Novelists and Grandmothers
This is grandparents’ week at our cottage. Instead of writing, blogging and Facebooking, I’m indulging in Super Diaper Baby, Uno, and watching my six year old grandson ride the big yellow bus to Children’s School and then sit quietly at Chautauqua’s historical amphitheater as he takes in ballet and orchestra with a child’s enthusiasm—and longer-than-expected…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: The Original Program
One thing I love about Chautauqua Institution — where I spend the summer — is that it’s ecumenical and multi-faith, as you tell from the photo above. Though I’m not Catholic, one of my favorite members of the clergy is Father Greg Boyle, a Jesuit priest who founded the Homeboys Industry, which gives jobs and…
Read MoreWhat a Difference Titles Make
Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I talk about titles a lot. It’s true. I posted about titles here, and here, and even another one here. That last link goes to a blog entitled Can You Abide Another Post About Titles? Well, can you? Because that’s what the last two weeks have been all about for…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: “The one thing you have…”
“The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can”. -Neil Gaiman The theme at Chautauqua Institution this past week was Play. How does taking the time to be…
Read MoreBayou Midnight
I always have fun coming up with an author’s note for each of my books. Today I’ll share my website note for Bayou Midnight, which will be at all the major online bookstores on Sunday. (It’s available for preorder, right now using that link, too.) And yes, there will be a paperback available, too. On…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: How to comfort people
David Brooks, an author and columnist for the New York Times, gave an excellent lecture here at Chautauqua last week. What I like about Brooks is that he doesn’t just write about politics but about what it means to be human. And one of the biggest challenges of being human is how to adequately help…
Read MoreChautauqua: The Most American Thing in America
According to President Theodore Roosevelt, Chautauqua, where I spend my summers, “is the most American thing in America.” President Roosevelt may well have been speaking about the traveling Chautauquas as well as the “Mother Chautauqua” planted on Lake Chautauqua in Western NY in 1874, after a period of great political crisis as well as religious…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: John Irving
“It´s natural to want someone you love to do what you want, or what you think would be good for them, but you have to let everything happen to them. You can’t interfere with people you love any more than you’re supposed to interfere with people you don’t even know. And that’s hard, …, because…
Read MoreBrainstorming 2018: Oh, the Things People Say
Brainstorming 2018 is now just a mish-mash of notes and ideas brewing in the head of each of the four members of my brainstorming group. But wow, did we accomplish a lot. If you’re late coming to the idea of brainstorming and what goes on, you can find lots about what we do here. Meantime,…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: “You are part of their lives”
“When you read about the lives of other people, people of different circumstances or similar circumstances, you are part of their lives for that moment. You inhabit their lives, and you feel what they’re feeling, and that is compassion. If we see that reading does allow us that, we see how absolutely essential reading is.”…
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