Yesterday, I sat down in the midst of a circle of women at the retirement center.  Mine had been a long day and I was inwardly chortling about an email I’d  received from a young woman. Laughter is best when shared, so I told my companions about my invitation to a writer to appear

In 2014, I wrote about the Intentional Fallacy, a term of literary criticism. (6/5/14)   The theory states that to understand a work of art, nothing is relevant except the piece itself.  Knowledge of the artist’s childhood or what he or she ate for breakfast has no bearing on int

Recently, an acquaintance approached me for advice on how to proceed with a book he wanted to write.  The subject was non-fiction and on a topic I knew little about, but I agreed to meet him for coffee and listen to his ideas.  He’d researched his subject and had so many thoughts,

A couple of weeks ago, a reader sent me am article from the Wall Street Journal about a first novel that became an overnight success, (“Preparation for the Next Life,” by Atticus Lish.  (Click here)  The story is one that would make any struggling writer salivate.  Tyrant, a sm

Susan Stoner, author of the Sage Adair Historical Mystery Series and I were browsing through in a large, three-storied bookstore the other day when suddenly my friend paused and, looking down the aisle at the floor to ceiling shelves, uttered a deep sigh. “Gosh, there are a lot of b