I first learned about short self-assignments from Natalie Goldberg's well-known Writing Down the Bones.  Goldberg introduced the concept...

Albert Camus said a wonderful thing about why we write or paint or dance or make music: "A person's life purpose is nothing more th...

It's gardening time in New England--despite the 20 degree weather we had last week that left my kale seedlings gasping--and I'm spen...

In my attempt to understand the balances and imbalances of the creative life, I've signed up for some e-newsletters. One of my favorit...

How recently have you cracked open your heart? One of my favorite--and riskiest--writing classes to teach is called "Writing through ...

It's a rainy Saturday and I'm teaching at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. Outside, trees are in full leaf, lilacs are bloo...

Sunset always happens. The day ends. So does your book, essay, poem, story. Eventually you have to tie all the loose bits into reasonabl...

This week I made soup, because the weather turned unexpectedly cold. It was hot, 89 degrees, in the beginning of the week, but it hit 31 by...

A well- structured book is like a clear trail. The reader can follow it. So can the writer. But many writers get bogged down during the ...

This week I had my small moment in the sun. A thrill for any writer, I was invited for an interview on WNPR about my new novel, Qualities ...