Author name: admin1

How many of you want to hear me talk about poop? Don’t worry. I’m not going to talk about poop. My sister, though — she talks about poop. In fact, when she’s about to start dating a guy, she gives them a litmus test. She says, “I poop. Do you have a problem with that?” […]

1. I have never read a book on the “craft” of fiction. 2. That’s a lie: I taught one last year. His discussion of dialogue was so inane I stopped reading. Based on one chapter. 3. This makes me a lazy reader. 4. Craft is stolen. 5. I am a thief. 6. I am rarely

When I drove 3,000 miles across the country, carried my things (an air mattress, a card table, a camp chair, a suitcase of books, a suitcase of clothes, some toiletries) into my grandma’s empty house and pulled out my laptop computer, I thought the words would begin to magically pour out of me. There were

I want to be fifteen pounds lighter. I want a few more digits in my checking account balance. I want to make love with her, the one over there sipping the electric blue cocktail, but I want to make love with her, too, the one I see twice a year whose letters always smell of

We all want to be recognized: it’s right there in the third tier of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, in the rectangle labeled “belonging.” But what’s it like to be a writer who wants readers? The question might as well be, what’s it like to be a writer? Because although some writers want to be read

Fuels: Materials that store potential energy in forms that can be practicably released and used as heat energy.   At a recent literary event, I stood in a circle of writers who were talking about insomnia, a common issue for artistically driven people. I mentioned that I don’t struggle very much with insomnia, surprisingly, because

“If you’re waiting for the perfect time to write, you’re doing it wrong.” —Me, paraphrasing other writers who write about writing I call myself a writer because I write. I am not well-known. I don’t make a living writing. I haven’t won awards. I do write every day, arranging words to form sentences that tell

For years, my sister Jen and I had an ongoing competition: take the recipes for our favorite comfort foods and try to tweak the ingredients to make those foods as healthy as possible without losing flavor or texture. We did this with cookies, breads, soups, muffins — you name it, we altered it, creating a

I’m left-handed. Age twenty-eight, in the depths of my Saturn return, I designed a tattoo. An artist etched the two images I had combined into my skin. From that point on, a black cat in mid-run crosses in front of an enormous red flame on the bicep of my writing arm.  * I’m in a

We all have demons that keep us from writing. I’ve named mine, but I’m betting you know them. First is Eggbert. He sits on your keyboard in a sleepy, warm little pile, his soft belly spreading over your keys. He’s pale pink and covered with white, silky hairs. His brown eyes have enormous, slow-blinking lids