I have not been writing a poem a week as I tasked myself in Cross Training, nor have I met the goal I set in my Bylines Calendar of writing a chapter a month. If I wanted to grind to a complete halt, I could trip over these “failures,” wallow in chocolate, and stop writing […]

When I lived alone in Manhattan, a married friend with three sons once said to me, “Enjoy your solitude.” I did. But I was lonely, too. Later, in Vermont, waiting in line to be seated at a diner with my three young children while my husband was working, a different friend greeted me and said, […]

Starting a new book is like learning to drive manual transmission: it’s all about getting into first gear. And even though a writer may have cruised along in fifth to the end of any number of novels before, each new one is like learning to drive all over again. I’ve been jack-rabbiting, stalling, and crawling […]

Writers write. Then we submit and wait  – and worry. We wonder what’s wrong that editors take so long to decide our fate. This waiting reminds me of when I was single, living in New York City, wondering how I was ever going to marry if I couldn’t even get a date. Why wouldn’t anybody […]

There are many ways to find an agent. I know, because I’ve tried most of them. In the past decade, I’ve queried over sixty agents about two different books – and had contracts offered from three. No question, the agent search has been the most frustrating part of my writing career. But part of it’s […]