As many of you know, historical novelist Stephanie Cowell and I go way back. We met in a workshop taught by Madeleine L’Engle more than twenty years ago and worked together in a writers group in NYC for over ten years. She’s the “Stephanie” I…

These days the face of literature and learning are changing so rapidly, it’s hard to know much of the time what we’re even looking at or why we bother to write. It’s thrilling and terrifying. A truly brave new world. But my quandary goes beyond…

From the look on people’s faces, I can tell everyone really enjoyed Stuart’s book launch on Friday night. Thanks for a terrific showing and a terrific night. I felt like a proud old aunt! Thank you, Stuart. Thank you everyone.

In anticipation of Stuart Lutz’s book launch party tomorrow night – a Writers Circle first! – I feel compelled more than ever to emphasize the need for a writers community. This extends beyond our own small but growing circle to embrace family, friends, and hopefully…

Catharsis is a powerful motivator for writing. It is perhaps the underlying reason that many of us decide to set down our thoughts. We are working through something, consciously or subconsciously trying to figure out ourselves, our lives, fate, our beliefs, and the world. Through…

I’m particularly proud to host today’s guest blogger, Stuart Lutz, who has been a part of our Writers Circle literally since it began. For four years, I’ve followed the progress of his extraordinary project, The Last Leaf: Voices of History’s Last-Known Survivors. It’s been a…

Many of us come to a weekly writing workshop, a writers group or an MFA program looking for rules, instructions, some correct route to take as we navigate our way through our work. Let me tell you after years with my own writing and helping…

Most of you know my passion for all things wild. Though New Jersey doesn’t qualify for that definition these days, for most of its existence, it truly did. Here’s my little rethink of the landscape of the NJ suburbs: What’s Right Beneath Our Feet: A…

While we’re at it, check out NPR’s Three-Minute Fiction contest. Here are the basics: “We want you to tell us a story about this photo: “The premise of our contest is simple: Send in your original short story that can be read in three minutes…

Perhaps it was a mistake to read James Patterson Inc. back to back with Michael Cunningham’s A Writer Should Always Feel Like He’s In Over His Head. For James Patterson, writing doesn’t seem very hard. Of course, I wouldn’t dare disparage him. Honestly, I’m impressed.…

Check it out! The Writers Circle blog tied for #15 on the 2010 Preditors & Editors Readers Poll! I know it’s not #1, and I never expected it to be. But even reaching #15 in the overcrowded conversation that goes on every day on the…

So often I dwell on the unavoidable truth that writing is hard. Every day as I face the blank or unrevised page, I feel the dread that I won’t be able to fill or fix it, that somehow the difficult work is simply beyond me.…