How's 2016 treating you so far? Maybe this news and info will be useful. Tom Fiffer who has contributed a number of essays to this site has a new book, Why It Can't Work: Detaching from Dysfunctional Relationships to Make Room for True Love. He is Senior Editor, Ethics, for The Good Men Project, which you should check out--it's "The conversation no one is having." If reading the thought-provoking stuff there inspires you to write about an issue, recently the site had … [Read more...]
When envy shows itself
The other day I was with writer friends and someone mentioned something (a new placement, a publishing deal, a new confidante), and was a little timid about going into specifics, but then did, and, wow, the feeling I was left with was . . . envy. I was quiet about it. Didn’t mention it to anyone. I was ashamed and embarrassed I felt this way. But deep down I couldn’t help myself from thinking: When will it be my turn? No wonder Envy is in the top seven. When it … [Read more...]
Three fairs and a freebie
Hello Folks. Have you, like me, been wowed by the fall colors this year? I don't know whether the foliage is more exceptional this year than in previous ones. It seems to me it is. But then I also wonder whether it's me that's changed, gotten older and more sentimental, and more aware of the fleeting colors and birdsong and our remarkable natural world. Anyway, I've been trying to write some difficult pages and I'm easily distracted by the beauty outside my window (Glimpse of … [Read more...]
Bugbears and bugaboos
The two things that work against me as a writer are distraction/ procrastination and dealing with rejection. I thought had 15 rejections in a row but then I counted and it’s more like twenty. Usually I can shake off a rejections, realize it is nothing personal but a business decision, not a reflection on my writing per se so much as on the journal's content . But you know what it’s like. Sometimes you place a little more hope in a submission, and you think: maybe this … [Read more...]
Settling into September
Not much to report except to say I am finding comfort in routine. My wonderful writing group The Writers has started up again, and my Wednesdays are all about writing, my writing friends, and hearing and critiquing new work. So far Sharon Fiffer and Goldie Goldbloom have moderated. You may know Sharon Fiffer from her mystery books (the Jane Wheel series), the anthologies she worked on with her husband Steve Fiffer, or from their Evanston writing workshops. Also, she's let … [Read more...]