“It never looked as terrible as it was and it made her wonder if hell was a pretty place too. Fire and brimstone all right, but hidden in lacy groves.” – Toni Morrison, Beloved “Gather ye rose-buds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying.” – Robert Herrick, … More A Curious Thing
Pared down to my essence, I am a tortured writer. A fairly social observer of the world who awakes in the night trying to capture that je ne sais quoi when a dream or fleeting memory brings all the pieces into place and the veil of life is lifted, if only for a millisecond. Everything … More Currently Querying
Do not fear the messy page, rife with cross-throughs and edits. Those smudges and X’s are like the billowy green algae visible just beneath the surface of the water, evidence of the life lurking beneath. Inception, growth, death, and new life all entwined in the microcosm of the page. Rich, full. No, do not fear … More Do Not Fear the Chaotic Page
Tomorrow at approximately 2:00 pm we will meet our daughter- quite a surreal concept. After an adorable march of eleven baby boys in a row, she will be the first girl grandchild for my in-laws in twenty-five years and the first ever girl for my parents. That’s a lot of pressure to put on one … More Giving Birth (to a Baby and a Book)
Set in 1940’s Rio de Janeiro, Martha Batalha’s The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao follows a brilliant and passionate woman through her days of preparing food, tending to children, and altogether being overlooked and underappreciated. With a successful banker for a husband, she need only tend to the house and her offspring, passing her days with … More Unspoken Hardships & Aspirations: The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao
To children, their parents are just that- individuals who live to serve their offspring with benevolent transparency. At some point, as we get older we are able to peer beyond the veil a bit and accept the fact that our mothers and fathers had lives and goings on completely independent of us. The level … More The Complex Nature of Truth: The Heirs by Susan Rieger
Originally posted on bookworm_shawn:
As you sit anxiously (not eagerly) watching the days of summer vacation dwindle away to nothing, thank your teachers. I know you have yet to meet them, or if by chance you have met them, to interact with them in any real way yet, but thank them nonetheless. You may not…
(My beloved Paperblanks journal! Get it here: http://amzn.to/2v7JoOw ) It sounds great in theory. Sketch out your plot, draft at your leisure, and slowly but steadily create what will one day become your first published novel. You have other sources of revenue so writing is your passion, not your livelihood, but therein lies the problem. You … More Pitfalls of a Part-time Writer
A woman in her early 40’s and one in her early 20’s cross paths with interesting repercussions in Edan Lepucki’s new novel Woman No. 17. Lady, a not-so-aspiring author and wealthy mother of two, hires Esther, a cynical art grad in the throes of her most recent project, to care for her three-year-old son while she … More Art & Consequence: Edan Lepucki’s Woman No. 17
Originally posted on bookworm_shawn:
We like to escape. Take us to faraway lands with mythical creatures and beautiful rulers. Show us individuals who have it way worse than we do. And then show us ones who have it way better. Make us forget that performance reviews are coming up and that Susan from…
