What I Learn from Reading
I’m reading stories this week for the American Library of Paris’s Young Author Fiction Festival. It’s the fourth time I’m a judge for this writing contest. From twenty-six short stories by authors aged eleven to twelve, I am to select…
To Tell or Not to Tell: Speaking about Work in Progress
Some authors refuse to speak about their work in progress. They don’t want to contaminate their fragile ideas with other people’s opinions. Or they fear colleagues might steal their plans before they can finish the book. Or they don’t want…
Thick Bleeding Numbers
The young woman for whom I was writing down my number stayed kind. She didn’t question my inability to accomplish a task so simple or judge me for my incompetence.
The Art of Revision
Inspired by multiple fundraising events in my neighborhood in Hoi An, I decided to donate my time and teach a writing class for the many authors that happen to live here.
Skopelos: To Write or Not to Write
I won’t write about my month on Skopelos because if I did,I would have to tell you how lucky I feel to wake up each day to a view of the sea, which is always and never the same, and…
Like the Water
I’m writing at a dressing table placed in front of the open French doors of our bedroom overlooking the Aegean Sea. D is writing under an umbrella on the terrace. I watch him at times, and he looks as though…