by Deborah Lee Luskin | Jul 30, 2013 | Living in Place
I started writing a new novel in February of 2012. I planned to write a chapter a month; in fact, I wrote a chapter every two months until September of last year – until I started over again. For a little external pressure, I signed up for NaNoWriMo, and I had over...
by Deborah Lee Luskin | Jul 2, 2013 | Living in Place
Writing to Change the World, by Mary Pipher, is part autobiography, part writing instruction, and all inspirational. This is a heartening book, one that doesn’t just instruct but also reminds writers of all kinds and all degrees how powerful our stories...
by Deborah Lee Luskin | Mar 5, 2013 | Living in Place
Of all the graduation speeches I’ve ever heard, the most meaningful one was at the ceremony for a friend who had just become a rabbi. The speaker exhorted these new clerics “to build a fence around their Torah.” He told them that even as they...
by Deborah Lee Luskin | Nov 27, 2012 | Living in Place
It’s November twenty-seventh, meaning including today there are just four more days to finish the NaNoWriMo challenge of writing a 50,000-word novel in one short month. As of this morning, I’m at 42,452, so it’s nip-and-tuck whether I’ll cross the finish...
by Deborah Lee Luskin | Oct 16, 2012 | Living in Place
My mother died last month. Her death was long anticipated and when it finally came, something of a relief. But losing a parent is one of life’s great transitions, moving the next generation closer to the front line of death. As expected as my mom’s death was, it also...
