In Boston until Sunday, when I go to Vermont. Lovely here– snow fell yesterday and we went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. I misread the website for the museum– thinking that the Costumes of Edith Head was an exhibit, when in fact it is a film series. So we walked around the [...]

Posted in Vermont Studio Center, books, fiction, my family, ted, travel, writers 1 Comment »

It’s writer Mary Gordon’s birthday today. (picture from Random House). Mary Gordon was one of my favorite teachers during my MFA. She was generous, honest, and so precise in her feedback. She also made you feel like you were a friend to her. I loved visiting her apartment on the Upper West Side and chatting [...]

Posted in books, fiction, nonfiction, writers 1 Comment »

The next book on my queue is Sunnyside by Glen David Gold. I’m going to read it while I’m at my residency in Vermont for the month of January. It’s sitting on my nightstand now and I’m just itching to get to it! “[The] author of the best seller Carter Beats the Devil, now gives [...]

Posted in books, fiction, questions that plague me, writers 7 Comments »

I suppose I find some comfort in knowing that John Cheever didn’t publish his first novel until he was in his 40s–The Wapshot Chronicle (1957–he was 45). Of course, he had been publishing stories in the New Yorker for about a decade already. An interesting tidbit from his bio (Cheever: A Life, by Blake Bailey–yes [...]

Posted in books, fiction, my writing, writers 2 Comments »

Saw David Sedaris last Friday, the night before Halloween at the newly renovated Balboa Theater downtown. The tickets were $50, and actually belonged to my lovely friend Jess, but she was sick, and her boyfriend was busy with rehearsals for a show, so they offered them to myself and Ted (and one extra ticket that [...]

Posted in books, fiction, teaching, ted, writers No Comments »

Long time no blog, eh? Sorry about that. I’ve got to get rejuvenated about blogging–maybe about writing in general? I found my summer was swept away by teaching and other commitments. Only finished my summer class a few weeks ago and this week started Fall. Eesh. Complain complain complain, right? Got a text from my [...]

Posted in books, fiction, my writing, writers 2 Comments »

More of why I love Annie Dillard: Writing every book, the writer must solve two problems: Can it be done? and, Can I do it? Every book has an intrinsic impossibility, which its writer discovers as soon as his first excitement dwindles. The problem is structural; it is insoluble; it is why no one can [...]

Posted in books, fiction, my writing, writers 1 Comment »

Here’s another gem from The Writer’s Almanac. I’ve never heard of this guy, Paul J. Willis, but I’m going to have to get his book/s. This poem is so unique and beautiful and spare but so rich. I love the story of this Grandfather. Common Ground by Paul J. Willis Today I dug an orange [...]

Posted in books, fiction, my writing, nonfiction, poetry, teaching, writers No Comments »

Why am I taking so long to read Blake Bailey’s Cheever: A Life? Maybe because I’ve been so busy (we’ve been so busy) with unpacking in our new home. I’d like to think it’s because I want to savor every moment of Cheever’s life, want to linger longer in the anecdotes and memories and recollections [...]

Posted in fiction, shopping, teaching, writers 3 Comments »

John Cheever would have been 97 today. This year saw the publication of Cheever: A Life,  a comprehensive (and well reviewed) biography by Blake Bailey. It’s next on my list of books to read– I’ll start it this weekend while we’re in Cincinnati visiting Ted’s mom. Cheever said, “A page of good prose remains invincible.” [...]

Posted in Uncategorized, books, fiction, writers 1 Comment »