I have a friend who, with her husband, has raised three exceptional children. One of her philosophies is, instead of giving children toys, to give them “real things.” They didn’t do skateboards or TV (except for the World Series). But if a kid wanted a banjo, he got a real one, not a baby version. […] Read More

A stirring way to celebrate the bold occasion of Independence Day: Prairie Home Companion’s live show tomorrow at 5:00 Central Time in the Wobegon-like town of Avon, Minnesota. The program also celebrates the 35th anniversary of Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home creation, as well as “the birth of freedom,” as GK says on the promo on […] Read More

An invitation arrived here that’s open to anyone who has things to say about improved health insurance coverage: “Event: National Strike for Health Care Reform “Put an end to murder by spreadsheet. Demand an alternative to private, for-profit health insurance. Demand public, universal health care coverage.” What: ProtestHost: You — and as many fellow citizens […] Read More

Out in my kayak on Jordan Lake on Sunday, I made several dozen efforts to shoot a picture of a wave. This is not an ocean wave. It’s a lake wave on a fairly calm day; mostly it’s wake from a motorboat. But up close from a little rubber boat, such waves can look and […] Read More

Today’s the last day of my Big Bold Sale, after having cut my prices for manuscript critiques by 40% for these past four weeks of June. Now I’m reading and reading. I’m glad to be doing the work, and it’s nice to make a Bold Gesture and get big response. I’ve met some new writers […] Read More

I’m fond of cars that are highly personalized, having done shocking things to my own ’92 Camry, my “shabby chic” artcar. Last week, teaching at Meredith, I had the pleasure of parking next to an especially jaunty and charming one. Its owner, writer Beth Browne, bought it with its decorations already attached; however, it seemed […] Read More

Just slept 11 hours. The last week, with the five-day, nine-to-three workshop plus a few other things happening and coming due, was intense. When I woke up midday today, I thought: is there anything better than this? the luxury of lying here? A friend once said that she enjoyed being tired once she gave in […] Read More

Saying good-bye makes me nervous. Maybe it’s because it’s the last chance to have everything said, at least for a while. Today was the last of my 5-day workshop at Meredith on writing fiction. I’ve spent 35 hours with this group of writers in the last week, and, inevitably, we talk about some fairly intimate […] Read More

This week of teaching regular hours is both a break in my usual routines and a much more regimented new routine. The class day runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a nice lunch buffet at noon. Unlike my usual daily arrival at my office, I have to get to the classroom on time, […] Read More

Useful talk today in the writing workshop I’m leading this week at Meredith College–useful for me, as it happens. We were talking about writing dialogue, and the vocabulary and sentence construction that makes a person sound authoritative or timid. I said I use “I think…” too much before making my pronouncements while giving feedback on […] Read More