Our second child’s due date is October 17, 2016. It’s a big deadline. There are many baby-related things we need to do before that date: pick a name; find and clean all of the baby toys in the attic; convert my office to the baby’s room (which is the only part I’m feeling sad about). But those aren’t […]
Precious Art Materials
I’ve just started a new hobby. When I was a pre-teen, I took a class in charcoal drawing at a local art store. I really enjoyed those classes, and was proud of the sketchbook full of work I produced. This probably doesn’t come as a surprise to those of you who know how much I […]
Honor Your Audience
Last week, I was preparing my flute students for the annual New York State solo festival, where they would be judged based on their performance in scales, a solo, and sight reading. Most of them expressed some degree of (understandable) nervousness. I talked to them about keeping the performance in perspective, remembering all the work […]
Reading Aloud
One of the best things about the writer’s retreat I attended last weekend was the mandate that all writing done in the kula must be read aloud. (You could technically refuse for a round or two, but it’s strongly discouraged.) It’s a scary feeling, having to read something you’ve written, and even scarier when it […]
Retreat From Writing
You may have noticed that I’ve been blogging a bit less over the past couple of months. I’ve been having trouble writing new material in general, but blogging has felt especially difficult because of its immediate audience. The best weeks of my recent writing life were when I was revising Waist for my agent; that invigorated […]
Crossing Categories
I’ve just turned in my newly edited manuscript to my agent (after just 2 weeks! Go me!) and am now patiently awaiting the next step. And by waiting, I mean immediately going to work on something else. I’m going back to work on the first draft of my second historical novel, based on the Blizzard […]