Once, after I had just given a workshop about plotting, a timid man approached me. He was small, with a potbelly and glasses, and he seemed like the kind of person you could always count on to help you clean up after a party or to donate to your fun run. You know: exceedingly [...]
I’ve always wanted to be one of those people who have a journal. I like to picture myself sitting in the sun, using a fountain pen to scribble out my Deep Thoughts and Observations. I think a journal could boost my creativity. I think a journal could be a lot of fun. I think [...]
A few months ago, while reading O, The Oprah Magazine (totally my favorite—don’t judge!) I came across an article written by Oprah herself, about a gratitude journal she used to keep. At the end of each day, she would write down the five things she was most grateful for that day. She included a sample [...]
I got an interesting letter in the mailbag this week. The author asked me how many books I planned to write. She wanted to know if I had a goal in mind. I thought this was a pretty interesting question—it was one I’d never really considered before. But I knew the answer right away: One. [...]
Several years ago, I went to hear a panel of illustrators at the Eric Carle museum. Whoever organized it clearly did not have much experience with panels, because this had something like nineteen amazing illustrators crowded onto a single stage, among them, icons like Brian Selznick and Barry Moser. After a few questions, a woman [...]
Once, I said to my friend Helen, “I’m just not the writer I thought I was.” “Don’t say that!” she said. “Oh, I don’t mean I’m a lousy writer,” I told her. “I just mean that I always thought I would write literary high fantasy. But it turns out I’m better at funny, realistic fiction.” [...]
Once, I received an E-mail from a woman who was trying to write a mass-market YA novel. “I understand that a lot of these books are formulaic,” she wrote, “so would you please tell me the formula?” Ouch. Once I got over feeling hurt, I was filled with rage. The formula? The FORMULA? Did this [...]
I’ve been reading a collection of stories by Roald Dahl (The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More), and in it, he lists the qualities you need in order to write well. I’m paraphrasing, but they are: imagination, the ability to write well, stamina, perfectionism, self-discipline, a sense of humor, and a degree of [...]
Recently, a good friend of mine asked me how I deal with the anxiety of sending out work—that moment when you have released your manuscript/ essay/ poem/ painting/ drawing to someone for evaluation, and are waiting for a reply. Oh, boy. I know that feeling well. In the words of the immortal Tom Petty, [...]
Yesterday, I got a mean E-mail. It wasn’t personal, really. It was just someone who needed to lash out and, when you’re out in the world, you’re always available as a target. So I thought I would write about that nasty E-mail on my blog, and how that one little thing ruined my whole day. [...]
