As pianists go, I’m by no means exceptional. In fact, I’m not really a pianist, but a person who enjoys playing the piano. As a kid, I stopped taking lessons at fourteen because it didn’t seem a cool thing to do, and I wasn’t interested in practicing. Part of the problem was …Read More

  I always thought J.D. Salinger was kind of a jerk. Salinger ostensibly wasn’t interested in the fame that came with writing one of the 20th century’s bestselling novels. Living as a recluse for most of his life, he shunned being viewed by or interacting with the general public. Though I gather he enjoyed the …Read More

Today was a tough writing day in that it almost didn’t happen. I’ve gotten back into that same old loop of going to bed way, way too late. Usually I’m up writing or blogging or messing around with Canva.com (link below) or paying bills. I look at the clock at 10:30, and think that surely I …Read More

In the next few weeks I’ll be making some changes to my website. There aren’t any hard and fast rules about how often a website should be changed and updated, but it’s often glaringly obvious when one needs help. I’ve had three websites in the past nine years, each with a major design change. This …Read More

When I’m writing and get stuck, I will often get up and putter about the house or go online or get a snack (numbers 2 and 3 are never good choices). I’m trying to get in the habit of going outside and walking a bit. It was gray all day today, so I wasn’t excited about …Read More

This day, New Year’s Day, couldn’t have been more filled with signs and portents if I had scripted it. The Dream: Just before dawn, I dreamed that my Grandma Clara–who was born in 1916 and died when I was in high school–was alive. In the dream my mother and I went to a kind of funeral …Read More

I will miss 2016. I will miss my son being 16/17, and my daughter not yet being 25. Every age my children have passed through has been my favorite. In 2016, my sixth novel was published. I worked on some special projects with remarkable writers. I saw New Orleans for the very first time. The …Read More

The more I write, the less sleep I get. That’s another one of those habits that’s been hard to break. I crave the near-silence of a sleeping house–but only can manage to find it at the before-bed end. I have heard about writers who get up before dawn to work before their family stirs. But …Read More

    In my life, I have set myself up for failure a lot, confusing goal-setting with imperious, inviolable self-commands. I’ve never seen failure as my friend, even though I was taught by my father from a young age that failure is simply another kind of opportunity. Perhaps I just never believed it. Okay, it’s pretty …Read More

Here it is the end of November already, and only today did I realize I didn’t do a wrap-up of events for the publication of The Abandoned Heart and the paperback of Charlotte’s Story. Can I blame wanting to get back to work on the next book? I did have a fabulous time bringing out The …Read More