Monthly Archives: August 2010

“A good rest is half the work.” Proverb My son Alex is an avid cyclist. He spent this summer working at our local bike shop and competes on the collegiate circuit. I’m just about to head out for a few … Continue reading →

“I’m nobody! Who are you?” “I felt a funeral in my brain,” “The heart asks pleasure first.” To glimpse the fertile mind and genius of Emily Dickinson, all you have to do is scan her first lines: lyrical, whimsical, cutting … Continue reading →

“Writers, perhaps, stand in special need of collegial associations. Their work, drawing on private depths of knowledge and feeling, is necessarily conducted in isolation and silence….” This comment by John Updike really struck a chord in me. And for some … Continue reading →

When I take a few days off to visit someplace new and recharge, I often find that some sort of theme announces itself to me. That’s exactly what happened on a recent trip. The same message kept cropping up everywhere: … Continue reading →

I don’t know about you, but I love giving books as gifts because, more often than not, I get to borrow them at some point and read them myself. When my darling sister Stephanie asked for a copy of The … Continue reading →

“Nothing will work unless you do.” Maya Angelou Passion fueled by hunger and desperation often produces magical results: Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen’s third album, is a perfect example. He was just 25 when the album was released and its … Continue reading →

“I find ecstasy in living — the mere sense of living is enough.” Emily Dickinson Just back from a full tilt literary jaunt with my friend, Janice. I wrote this post sitting on a huge, high bed covered in a … Continue reading →

In our apartment, the dining room was my father’s office. In it was a big black desk anchored like a ship in a small ocean of papers and books. My dad was a writer back then and that was where … Continue reading →