Scarlet

Somewhere in the middle of my fifth draft, I realized I was full of shit. Not that I was lying. I wasn’t. But I wasn’t telling the whole truth, either. The draft was for an essay on being engaged — specifically, on choosing a ring for my engagement. Having gone through a painful divorce, and […]

I write in a variety of genres: fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, and the interesting thing that seems to permeate everything I write is that I have a satirical voice. Personally, I find that injecting humor into my pieces is what helps the reader digest my strongly worded messages. Humor is agnostic. Although not everyone enjoys

Keep Pure. Rolling Hand. Big Wave. Breaking down the Fortress. Luck and Fortune. Sound Knowledge. Fifty-four Steps. For over twenty years I studied karate and these were the names of the battles I fought. These were kata, a series of structured fighting moves, offense and defense, that told a story, a narrative of struggle, one

There’s one thing that can’t be taught in writing classes. It’s really too bad, too, because in my mind, that “one thing” is the single most important ingredient when cooking up the Good Stuff. It’s the fast-dissolving capsule of Vitamin C – where the “C” stands for Creativity. (Ironically, if it were possible to teach

Every writer needs to read. A lot. All the successful ones say the same thing: Read promiscuously. Which is all well and good. Those in writing programs are assigned stacks of books that may or may not wind up being relevant. Some books we love, some we don’t. At the time, it’s assumed even tedious

I learned how to write fiction by understanding the language of visual art. As an artist, I was trained to capture the nature of my subject by amplifying the qualities that make that subject distinct or noteworthy. I may choose, for example, to accentuate the white of shimmering moonlight on the ocean, or exaggerate the

I find inspiration in very unexpected places. I am a fan of reading biographies/ essays/ articles of writers and their routines and habits but I get a little irritated at the self-help style of “How to Find Inspiration” articles. It’s like dating advice, what works for you will not necessarily work for others. We get

Franz Kafka famously said, “A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us.” Who knew a Disney movie — one named Frozen, no less — could act as that axe, too? My four-year-old son Asher loves Frozen; the movie is on regular rotation in our house. He often sings, “Let it Go”

1. When your mother calls you on a Monday night Asking you how to spell “flexible” over the phone Do not tell her you are busy Or to just use a dictionary Or that you’ll call her back in ten minutes 2. When your mother asks if you’re seeing anyone these days Do not tell

I’ve always considered myself a no frills, linear, begin-at-the-beginning, chronological-until-the-end type of person. Experimental writing was only for the few, the proud, those who could consume or create it unsupervised, without being deemed unintelligible or pretentious. Experimental writing for me was a Zen thing: I had to ask about it, so therefore I’d never understand