Living In Place
Breathing and Writing
I once heard Malachy McCourt begin a commencement address memorable for its brazen wisdom. “If you’ve got one foot in the future and one foot in the past,” he said, “it means...
Summer Calendar in the West River Valley
The summer calendar begins with Memorial Day even though the season starts on the solstice. Here in the West River Valley of southern Vermont, my summer calendar is filled with...
Summer Time
As a child, summers seemed endless. I played hopscotch, tag, and running bases with the kids on my street, and I spent two timeless weeks at the beach with my family, where I was...
Weeding and Words
Sometimes, weeding is the best way to learn how to write. Thinning plants can be as painful as deleting favorite passages of description or dialogue, and just as essential. If...
Rainy Sunday
We had a rainy Sunday, the kind of cool, overcast day preparing to dissolve into rain, the kind of day best spent reading on the couch, the sort of Sunday for reading the New...
How Long Does It Take To Write A Book?
“How long it take to write a book?” my dad asks. “It depends,” I answer. “How long does it have to be?” “As long as it needs,” I reply. “How long is the book you’re writing?” “It...