"Reading is the creative center of a writer's life." — Stephen King
March 23, 2022
In a 1978 BBC radio program, Barbara Pym said, “Perhaps I’ve been influenced by something I was once told about Proust – that he was said to go over all his characters and make them worse.” I laughed when I heard this because Pym does have … Read More
March 10, 2022
Here’s a radical idea: The primary responsibility of teachers and leaders is not to issue orders; it’s to release the energy of the people and manage the processes for using that energy to achieve goals. This idea was ahead of its time when Malcolm Knowles published it … Read More
March 3, 2022
Roy Peter Clark, a senior scholar at the Poynter Institute, describes writers like me when he says that when we’re not writing, we are often doubting ourselves. We feel bad. Instead, we could think of this period of delay as something constructive. We could reframe it … Read More
February 3, 2022
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s description of heroism looks simple: heroes have strong values; they don’t listen to doubters. But Emerson’s essays can be described as collections of complex ideas. He also says that heroism “has pride; it is the extreme of individual nature” (177). If you are … Read More
January 28, 2022
So, then, what is memoir? A memoir should “lift from the raw material of life a tale that will shape experience, transform event, deliver wisdom.” In other words, the writer’s story needs to illustrate a point. Rather than simply telling us what happened, the writer should tell … Read More
January 19, 2022
As it turns out, writing nonfiction stories is not very different from writing fiction for Ann Patchett. The title essay for this collection describes how she puts together an understanding of the life of the stranger who comes to stay in her house during the first months … Read More
January 14, 2022
“Be curious” is the advice that I am hearing nearly every day. It’s coming from a wide range of sources: Judson Brewer (in Unwinding Anxiety), Ollie Dreon (in his blog for college instructors), Kristin Neff (in Self-Compassion), and Ted Lasso (a … Read More
December 29, 2021
As we finish this difficult year, I’m wondering how I can thank my readers for sticking with me. Blogs can’t offer hugs, a place to go scream, a few extra hours of sleep, or stiff drinks. However, I can prescribe books that can help those who have … Read More
December 8, 2021
When you are writing, do you think “This is great!” or do you think, “I shouldn’t have put this off. It’s a mess. I’ll never get it right.” Too often, I find it easy to be with the large number of people who are critical of themselves … Read More
December 2, 2021
This sentence made me stop to wonder if Knausgaard was telling his readers they shouldn’t come to his novel with an agenda for what it should be like. If so, that’s a good start. I would go further, though, and say that this book is not for … Read More
November 19, 2021
The essay “Teaching a Stone to Talk” opens with a description of cranky man named Larry who does, in fact, try to teach a stone to talk. Several times a day, he takes a certain stone off his shelf, removes its cover, and gives it lessons. This … Read More
November 5, 2021
Is this true? To have power, do you need to make everyone feel anxious? According to the author of this essay about Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the answer is “Absolutely.” The play is about an exiled Duke who wants to return to power, even though he … Read More
