I’ve discovered something that I’m really, really good at: Avoiding my writing. I can find almost anything to do other than write. Laundry! Dishes! Grocery shopping! Cleaning out the cat’s litter box! Lately I’ve been cooking. Granted, I’m not a very precise cook. It’s impossible for me to follow a recipe, my adolescent self kicks… Read More Wasting time instead of writing
Oh dear, remember that song by the Spice Girls, “So tell me what you want, what you really, really want.” (Now I’m going to be singing that all night, sigh, sigh.) Probably, you think you do know what you want. I did, and it turns out that I was wrong, and on so many counts. I… Read More Tell me what you want, what you really, really want
I left Tucson last week, on a morning where the temps reached 80 degrees before noon. We took a fast run around the university and then my partner and I headed for the airport. He took a flight back home to Anchorage and I headed to Philly to visit with my sister and mother for… Read More Not writing in Philly (but obsessing nevertheless)
Yesterday was my dead sister’s birthday. I used to set out food for her each year, since she died of complications of an eating disorder and I figured that her ghost must be hungry, but a few years ago I began running instead. My sister, Cathie, and her dog Barney. This year I’m in Tucson,… Read More Running + grief = happiness (or running + happiness = grief)
Writing is utter solitude, the descent into the cold abyss of oneself.” –Frank Kafka Well, I’ve been in Tucson on my DIY writing residency for three weeks now and have accomplished more than expected. I write hard all week and reward myself by renting a car on weekends, where I hit the mountains for long… Read More Desert dreaming (or, how a sunburn led to a needed insight)
I can’t sleep. There’s a dog barking on and on and the room is cold and I’m too tired to get up and close the window. I’m on a do-it-yourself writing residency in Tucson. I’ll write a post soon about the advantages and disadvantages of arranging your own residency, in your own location. First, though,… Read More Writing about difficult topics (and ebook anthology sale)
I’ve mentioned it before: I receive a lot of rejections. The actual number, of course, varies upon the time of year, my confidence level and my writing output. I usually have three pieces out in circulation at any point, and with the average literary magazine accepting less than 1-5% of submissions–well, you do the math.… Read More Don’t let rejection freak you out (and goodbye, Phillip Levine)
I first read Kari Neumeyer’s memoir Bark and Lunge: Saving My Dog From Training Mistakes about half a year ago and immediately wanted to write about it. But my dog was dying and I was afraid that if I wrote a review of a book where (spoiler alert!) someone else’s dog dies, then my dog would… Read More Bark and Lunge (and hello, Kari Neumeyer)
I recently had to say goodbye to my dog, Beebs. She was almost 15 and had been sick on and off for weeks. She couldn’t walk well, I often had to hold her as she peed, and she had been pooping in the house for over a year. Her hair was falling out, she wouldn’t… Read More Eulogy for Beebs, the best damned dog in the world
Cinthia Ritchie 