Lordy, I can’t believe tomorrow, 7:45 a.m., I leave for my January residency in Vermont at VSC. Can’t believe the day is already (almost) here. The photo on the left is one of the buildings  but imagine it with snow and the river frozen. Fun! I think i’m ready. Today we went out and bought [...]

Posted in Vermont Studio Center, shopping, travel 1 Comment »

So i’m on this contest kick lately. I’ve never been one to enter contests– not really. I think i’ve bought lotto tickets three times in my entire life. I rarely buy raffle tickets unless it’s for a good cause. The last thing I won was a Chippendale’s Puzzle playing gay bingo in the East Village [...]

Posted in Uncategorized, Vermont Studio Center, my writing, shopping 4 Comments »

When I’m not working on my book (insert joke here) my mind is always tossing around new ideas for writing. I was thinking the other day about the toy Stretch ArmStrong. Remember him? “He stretches to four times the actual size, then returns to normal!” I used to have one. I think I begged my [...]

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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 »

Heading to Utah tomorrow, but spent Sat. and Sunday in Las Vegas seeing the family. Today I went to the Atomic Testing Museum. Very strange. Very fascinating. In the museum there was a 13 minute movie about the Atomic Bomb and Testing in Nevada. They must have put speakers or something under the floor and [...]

Posted in Movies, books, crafts, my writing, postcards, shopping, travel No Comments »

I’m trying to get caught up on my New Yorkers. Did you read the profile of Ian McEwan from the Feb. 23 issue (which, by the way, had that hilarous and grotesque cover with A Rod)? Daniel Zalewski’s profile of the Atonement author (read it here) is so compelling, so readable, and SO long. I [...]

Posted in Movies, books, fiction, my latest man-crush, my writing, questions that plague me, shopping, writers 2 Comments »

Ooof. Long week. But a good one.Started at the second college and also a night class at a writing school downtown. All that and I managed to go to my office and work on my book! This week, amid all of the chaos and driving to and from the schools I got in the mail [...]

Posted in Movies, books, collage, fiction, my writing, shopping, teaching, writers 1 Comment »

Starting to get crazy busy. I’m at the top of the rollercoaster about to head down. I start teaching at two schools next week and am already teaching at one that started last week. And i’m writing a book. I’m scared. I’m exhilarated. Last night after teaching and then a three hour meeting I came [...]

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Here’s one of the reasons I love the writer, and a beloved former writing instructor of mine, Mary Gordon: **The following is from the NYTimes blog: PaperCuts January 13, 2009 The Writer’s Notebook: Mary Gordon By Gregory Cowles Mary Gordon (photo: Emma Dodge Hanson, from NYTimes.com) Writers’ journals are like musicians’ scales: practice, but also [...]

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

I just can’t resist this new T-shirt from Threadless. It’s called “Work.” You can buy it here. Language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity. ~Gustave Flaubert

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