Tag: writing
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November 18, 2020
This morning I woke up thinking about a fifth-grade boy who came through a signing line at a bookstore in North Carolina. I signed his copy of Despereaux and he said, “My teacher said fifth grade is the year of asking questions.” “Really?” I said. “Yeah,” he said. He took out a notebook. “Every day…
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October 7, 2020
“All art stands on the shoulders of craft, which means to get to the art, you must master the craft. If you want to write, practice writing.” –Ann Patchett I’ve been down in the basement, sorting through decades of files and boxes. I seem to have saved every attempt at writing I’ve made–every draft, every…
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September 30, 2020
I intended to write a post about re-writing. I went for a walk to think about what I wanted to say, and I saw this little toy lizard hidden in a hole in a brick wall. I walked right past her the first time. She was nothing but a small flash of green in the…
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August 19, 2020
Here I am at 11 years old going downhill on a pair of rusty roller skates—almost, but not quite, spinning out of control. It’s a familiar feeling. People keep asking me if I’m still writing during this strange and unsettling time. Yes! I am! Stories—writing them, reading them—are how I keep my balance. I’m grateful…
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August 5, 2020
I received this Edward Tulane art over 13 years ago. I taped it up in the closet in my office. I see it every time I open the door to get out more paper, pens, the postal scale. I don’t know if you can read the writing above the drawing. It says: “When he flys”…
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July 8, 2020
I received a letter last week from a woman who wrote to me when she was a child. She told me, then, that she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. I wrote her back and told her what a writer once said to me when I was young: keep writing; don’t give…