Tag Archives: writing

8 Ways to Beat the Block

Okay, I’ll come clean–I don’t believe in writer’s block. In my fifteen years as a writing tutor, I’ve worked with thousands of student writers, and in my experience, writer’s block is always a sign that one of two things is happening: You’re working on the wrong project. You’re working on the right project but withContinue reading “8 Ways to Beat the Block”

The Angst of the Artist

It really only happens when we’re not working–because we’re stuck or self-doubting or, well, just not working. I am one hell of a crotchety old woman when I’m not writing. And lately that’s been true for a few more days than I’d like. During novel revisions last night, I finally went back to a revisedContinue reading “The Angst of the Artist”

A Friend Asked Me How I Find Time to Write, So Here’s My Answer

Okay, so you asked how I find time to write and publish and wedding plan and work while I’m in grad school full-time. Good question. Well, I’m writing this on my smartphone during my morning commute to work. I take care of all my non-school/work correspondence (including blogging) in the morning before work. If IContinue reading “A Friend Asked Me How I Find Time to Write, So Here’s My Answer”

On Seeing My Father’s Face for the First Time in Nine Years

I can’t say for sure exactly why, but two days ago, I sat down at my computer, opened Google, and typed in my parents’ names. I was overcome with longing to find out what had ever happened to them. We haven’t spoken in nine years. I hadn’t felt the least bit curious before in allContinue reading “On Seeing My Father’s Face for the First Time in Nine Years”

Toastmasters Speech #2: The Art of Mastery

When I was six years old, I made a choice that would shape the course of my life. I chose my career. I had decided that I would become an artist. Now I had never met an artist, but two years later, I got the chance. My parents enrolled me in the Preparatory Dance ProgramContinue reading “Toastmasters Speech #2: The Art of Mastery”

Listening as Discovery

On any given day, the writing center where I work exudes a cacophony of smells: there is curry–both African and Indian, the honey-musk of perfume, chalky talcum, roasted coffee, rain-steeped leather, and–on occasion–the rank sweat, aged and thick, of students who have not yet learned to wear deodorant in the U.S. To imagine I knowContinue reading “Listening as Discovery”

What I Learned from Writing a Killer

Two weeks ago, Robert J. Ray—easily the best teacher I’ve had in any subject—told me to start writing my killer’s backstory in first person. No way, was my knee-jerk response. Hell no. Last week, Jack Remick told me the same thing. Goddamn it, boys. These two men, lifelong writers and teachers now in their seventies,Continue reading “What I Learned from Writing a Killer”

Responsible Fiction: Toe to Toe with Difference

Writers have to get outside their own skin. But sometimes I get overeager to inhabit differences. And I write about characters I have no chance of understanding. So I just finished revisions on a short story about an Ethiopian immigrant who runs into his past. At the grocery store, he comes across a woman who witnessed anContinue reading “Responsible Fiction: Toe to Toe with Difference”

Revision as Sculpture

A lot of students have come to me lately with papers deep in revision. “I’m really sorry for the mess,” they say. They set down a packet of stapled pages, all scrawled over with notes. Entire lines crossed out. Marginalia thicker than printed text. “Can you still read it?” “Are you kidding?” I ask them. “ThisContinue reading “Revision as Sculpture”

Misogyny Is Alive and Well

So I’m at the bus stop this morning writing on my laptop, when a guy walks up to me. He shouts at me over my headphones. He juts his face over my screen. After two minutes of typing through innuendo blended with outrage, I pull out an ear bud. Me: “Sorry, but I really needContinue reading “Misogyny Is Alive and Well”