Resistance and I are old, old friends. You could almost call her my twin from the dark side. Sometimes she comes to me dressed as fear. Sometimes as jealousy. Sometimes as illness. Sometimes as a cruel judge. Sometimes as a blank, brick wall. Sometimes as my mothering heart. No matter how she’s cloaked, she’s extremely …Read More

There was this girl. Let’s call her Bitsy. Bitsy was the young woman my middle class self always wished she had been. Moneyed. Athletic. White-blonde, and very lightly freckled. East coast-educated, sorority-bred. Brilliant taste in clothes. Rarely wore more than one or two pieces of jewelry, and never carried a purse–only her wallet.  She didn’t …Read More

One of the many fun things that came out of my Wardrobe by Sam project–besides many recent shopping trips to replace all those cut-rate fall & winter clothes–was an invitation to submit a piece of fiction to a new crime anthology, Discount Noir. During all the days and hours that I spent in Wal-Mart and …Read More

It’s been several months since I was on the road. I think the workshop at the Hindman Settlement School was my last gig. And it’s been almost a year since I toured for CALLING MR. LONELY HEARTS. I can hardly believe it. Today I had a welcome break from my looooong winter writing schedule. I …Read More

You knew it had to happen. Right after I posted about how I almost never blog about writing, here’s a post that’s (kind of) about writing. Revision, specifically. Why do so many writers dislike revising their work? I see many updates on Facebook and Twitter from writers who are agonizing over their edits or revisions. …Read More

Focus is a big issue for me. I often don’t do it so well. When I was finally diagnosed with ADHD last year, I felt a huge sense of relief because I no longer felt like a moral reprobate for the fact that I can hardly sit still for a 1/2 hour t.v. show, a …Read More