I wanted to name my daughter Maya. Maya Angelou may be the reason I am a writer. She was probably the first female writer who I really read in high school, who made me feel like everyone has a story that is worthy of being told, and indeed must be told, in order to be […]
Why Writers Need to Be Readers
Every now and then you’ll come across a writer (often an unpublished writer, but still) who says they don’t read. They’ll offer as an excuse the need to keep their voice pure, to stay inside their own heads. To which I say, if your voice is that vulnerable to influence maybe it’s not that great […]
How to Limit Your Expectations When Things are Super Busy
I know I’m not the only one with a to do list longer than the time allowed to do it right now. Lots of people in my world have been talking about being busy, needing to stop and take time to schedule things and feeling like things are falling through the cracks. I definitely know […]
Joyce Carol Oates on Writing and Reading
Joyce Carol Oates gave a reading here last night, and while the time we got with her was much too short, I certainly found it inspiring. She mostly read, but she talked a little bit about what it means to be a writer. She said that it is a spiritual practice, a way to tell […]
Five Easy Ways to Make Your Office More Awesome
I’m to the part in my book where I feel like I need to be doing nothing but knitting all the time. The reality of deadlines has finally sunk in, and I’m paring down everything else in my life as much as possible so that I can focus and knit with as much of my […]
Monday Inspirations, Reading Edition
Lots of things have been hitting my radar recently about reading and how most of us are not doing enough of it, or at least not doing it well. Of course first was the NPR April Fool’s joke, in which they posted an article on Facebook ostensibly about how people don’t read anymore. The trick […]
A Simple Way to Spring Clean Your Air
Make a simple essential oil air freshener with baking soda to help spring clean the air (or make it fresher any time of year). This is one of those ideas I found on Pinterest and now that I’m looking again to give credit, I see it’s all over the place, but I think the pin […]