What if two kids met in a room in a house in Paris.... the boy was nine, and the girl was eleven. This moment is a moment of in-between for both of them; she is on her way to live with her grandmother, and he is meeting his mother for the first time. He lives … Continue reading Beginnings: What will Happen?
Category: writing life
Crowing again
I've got to share a poet. He's a faculty member in the program where I'm currently a student, which is how I encountered him. When he reads, I feel like I'm in church. His book, Lawrence Booth's Book of Visions (2001 Yale University Press) knocked my socks off last winter. His new book, The Gone … Continue reading Crowing again
My Hard Drive Died
Many of you already know that I've gone back to school. I applied one year ago to various MFA programs--a Master's degree in Fine Art. Many writers do this straight out of undergraduate school, when they can, upon acceptance, actually move to a new town and begin a standard, in-residency, generally highly competitive three-year program. … Continue reading My Hard Drive Died
Let Me Show You the House of Prayer
My dad’s twenty-fifth high school reunion was held in Vincennes, Indiana, at a Holiday Inn. For the first time, my sister, brother and I were left in the room unsupervised. I recall wandering to the lobby to see a bunch of intoxicated old people calling my dad “Ronny,” recounting how he once drove around the … Continue reading Let Me Show You the House of Prayer
This Neck of the Woods
I had forgotten. I had forgotten how you can’t see anything here. Even in the hills, which in the west promise vistas and sweeping feelings of honesty and cleanliness, in the Appalachians are all about shroud. Misty mornings, damp evenings, light filtered through whatever it is that hangs in the air, moisture, pollen, insects, scent. … Continue reading This Neck of the Woods
Do Not Deep Strv
Let me start with what I am not saying: that a writer's kids learning to write is a bigger deal than her neighbors' kids. Or that a writer's kids are any more adept at it, have an affinity for it, or any more right to language than the nurse's kids. It's not a contest; this … Continue reading Do Not Deep Strv
The Dark Bird
My writing background tells me that when dealing in highly charged symbols like fire, owls, houses, kudzu (if you're southern), lakes, storm and the like, one must tread lightly. These symbols mean something. You're supposed to know what. It isn't that the house must always be the soul of the family, but it commonly is. … Continue reading The Dark Bird
The five year plan
I've heard about these for decades. Which is to say that several five year segments have passed without me having formulated one. I do still remember writing in a journal that I needed to have a novel published before I was thirty, a move I now consider a curse. But recently I've had some forward … Continue reading The five year plan
Weird Human Behavior that I Happen to Like
This will be an ongoing topic. I'll start here: #1 Waving Deliciously primitive, asinine and ape-like, and yet what courage! What audacity! It's so hopeful, to raise one's hand while making eye contact with someone too far away to speak to. Across a room, through a crowd. My eyesight isn't stellar, so I am repeatedly … Continue reading Weird Human Behavior that I Happen to Like
The writer on hold…
There is a curious HOLD pattern to the writing life while one's novel is being, uh, considered by strangers. It's accompanied by a mute marvel: did I really do it? Did I actually complete an entire book? And someone is really concentrating on it enough--I really got this far with the whole thing? This is … Continue reading The writer on hold…