I am writing this blog entry while on vacation. So, naturally I am thinking about my next meal. When we consider food and its role in stories, food-themed movies come to mind—Babette’s Feast, Big Night, Chocolat, Julie and Julia, and…
For Valentine’s Day in 2009 my husband and I got tickets to a New Yorker event called “Love Is Strange” where Jeffrey Eugenides was going to speak about love and literature. That February, I was finishing my dissertation that included…
‘Masshole’ is now officially a word, not just the word I yell at the drivers who nearly run me over in the crosswalk. Much like being a pedestrian in Boston, the publishing path is full of hazards, even when you…
Like a lot of writers, I have a little notebook where I jot down stuff that pops into my head. Sometimes it’s an idea or phrase. Sometimes it’s nothing more than a single word. For instance, the last note I…
Most people in my writing circle know that I am a former project manager. “Former” because when you’re a project manager most coworkers think that you are evil, sent from Hell to destroy their workday happiness with demands for goals…
Last week, I disagreed with people who said that Pizza Hut’s new pigs in a blanket pizza is the downfall of civilization. Such opinions are subjective. And subjectivity is something we writers know something about. This week, along with other…