John and I moved last weekend. It was a long, tough two days. We schlepped a bunch of heavy items across town only to discard them. A couch, for instance…. Somehow we lost all my underwear. But we also found random relics from the past, which always happens when you move. A shirt I hadn’t …
Seven years ago, I met a hard-drinking, meat-loving, motorcycle-racing Southern man and fell in love. Oh, we had fun! And I needed it. I was a single mother of three, stringing my budget together with coupons and prayer. For as long as I could remember, every spare dime had gone to a school field trip …
There is a Taoist story about a wise, old farmer. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said. ”Maybe,” the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed. ”Maybe,” replied the old man. …
A tempest brewed in the literary Twittersphere over the weekend. What did this have to do with you real people? Pretty much nothing. Plumbers and surgeons and sales people went about their business, mowing their lawns and taking end-of-season boat trips and coaching Special Olympics softball teams. But we writers were huddled inside, Saturday through …
When Crazy Heart came out in 2009, I took my teenage daughter to see it. I thought it would be a nice bonding experience: a Sunday matinee and dinner afterward. Plus this was Jeff Bridges, of Big Lebowski fame; he’s that rare actor that 15-year-old girls and 43-year-old moms can agree upon. I was stricken …
“There’s a very fine line between being a writer and simply being unemployed,” my daughter once observed. She’s so right. Back in May, I took a leave from my job in advertising. It was a tough decision that my husband and I debated for weeks. But no matter how we figured, the calculus of having …
John and I typically visit our older son, Andrew, on Sundays. We pick him up at the group home where he lives—about 20 miles from our home—and take him out for coffee. Sometimes we go on a walk, or shop together. Lately, John and Andrew have spent the time working math problems to prepare for …
Today, to my surprise, a very late but welcome review of The Forever Marriage was published in the Washington Post. I’m not being coy when I say I was surprised. I knew the Post was considering my novel but reviews typically happen—if they’re going to—within four to six weeks of publication. The Forever Marriage has …
Last week an article appeared in Slate, decrying the way writers use Twitter to boost their social media status and thereby sell books. The piece was written by Jacob Silverman, contributing editor to the Virginia Quarterly Review—a bonafide literary magazine that runs poetry and stories about Icelandic cod fisheries, along with short fiction by luminaries …
There have been some lovely, flattering reviews of The Forever Marriage, a couple of magazine pieces, a handful of radio interviews with me. Writers have blurbed the book; readers have comments on Amazon. And I’m truly grateful, but I’m also puzzled. Because no one ever mentions the math. I take that back, there was ONE sort …