“To write well, to write passionately, to be less inhibited, to be warmer, to be more self-critical, to recognize the power of as well as the force of lust, to write, to love.” ———John Cheever (from The Journals of John Cheever)
Been back from my residency in Vermont for two weeks now. Ooof, talk about [...]

Posted in Vermont Studio Center, books, cats, fiction, hermia, my writing, ted, travel, writers 1 Comment »

Wow. I can’t believe it’s over. My last day at Vermont Studio Center.
So much to say but my head is utterly pounding and the thoughts in my brain a-jumble — anxiety about travel tomorrow, the strange ritual of packing up after 5 weeks away, the  goodbyes to dozens of wonderful people. What is there to [...]

Posted in Vermont Studio Center, art, books, cats, collage, cute photos of me, my writing, ted, travel, word of the day, writers 3 Comments »

“Every death is violent.”
So began Amy Bloom’s reading of her story “By and By” from her new book (out this month) of stories: Where the God of Love Hangs Out.
The story was dark, haunting. About a missing/murdered girl–and those she left behind. About the body and what happens to it in death, after death, [...]

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

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 these slippers for [...]

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

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 museum [...]

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

Back from Utah.
What a glorious trip! This is my third (fourth?) trip to St. George, Utah for work on my book but this time I really felt a much stronger sense of place–which I hope (no, I believe) I can convey in the book. Some days I just sat outside in the red rock canyon [...]

Posted in books, cute photos of me, my latest man-crush, my writing, travel, writers No Comments »

As many of you probably know, I’m in St. George (the very southern-most part of), Utah, working on my book. It’s been amazing here– my own little private writing residency. I highly recommend doing this: go to someplace inexpensive and check into a hotel for a week. Mine is 39 bucks a night–the Econolodge. My [...]

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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 under our [...]

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

F. Scott Fitzgerald, in a letter dated July 29, 1940 once said about Hollywood:
Isn’t Hollywood a dump—in the human sense of the word. A hideous town, pointed up by the insulting gardens of its rich, full of the human spirit at a new low of debasement. (from notablequotes.com)
cranky much?
Well, I don’t think Hollywood’s a dump. [...]

Posted in my writing, teaching, ted, travel 1 Comment »

We had a lovely time in Monterey, CA with Ted’s mom.
I’d never been to Monterey; it was incredibly beautiful. I loved that it had both forests and beaches.
The smell of pine and campfire and the squawk of seagulls. The morning mist in the air.
We saw and did so much. Ted’s mom is wonderful– the delicious [...]

Posted in cute photos of me, shopping, travel 1 Comment »