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The Search
The period of time after I have finished one writing project and before I have found my way to the next is always a fraught one. I pack a manuscript off to my editor after many months, sometimes years, of immersion and wake the next morning to a vacuum. A vacuum filled with questions.
Writing for Love
In its earliest meaning, amateur meant having a marked fondness, liking or taste for some activity. If we’re talking about writing, an amateur is someone who loves to write . . . or perhaps more accurately, writes for love.
The Virtue of Simplicity
I, like every other writer I know—at least every other publishing writer, spend far more time revising than I do writing the original draft. I even prefer revising to the initial process of filling a blank page.
The Beauty of the Earth
Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
Between Facts and Truth
I have always believed in story. I believe in it still.
But I am learning something in these late days of my career. Stories don’t have to be inventions. They can come from the world of very solid facts.
May You Live In Interesting Times
Everyone has heard it before, the old Chinese curse. “May you live in interesting times.”
And the times have never been more “interesting.” Not in my lifetime, anyway.
My City is Burning
My city is burning.
Yes, I live in Minnesota, in Minneapolis-St. Paul, where a police officer knelt on an unarmed black man’s neck while three other officers—and many members of our community—stood watching. You probably know the story. The black man died.
