​Book Reviews + Blog

I paint with the stubbornness I need for living. -Suzanne Valadon I think there’s a vein of stubbornness in you. That's a good thing! Especially if your stubbornness rears its head when you’ve just about given up, when the curve ball has knocked the breath out of your lungs, and you think the worst must finally be over… and it is not. The person I've quoted, Suzanne Valadon, is stubborn. My protagonist, Johanna, has just met Suzanne in the chapter I wrote last week. Suzanne w

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. -Vincent van Gogh I'm in the middle of a big sort.  In Vincent’s words, a bunch of small things like puzzle pieces I’m hoping will eventually fit into a complete picture.  The sorting is between fact vs. fiction. Squish a timeline or reflect it accurately? Write only about real people or add imaginary ones? The final arrangement will need to be a mix of real and unreal. Even though my novel is a story based

“I wonder if we are all wrong about each other, if we are just composing unwritten novels about the people we meet?” — Rebecca West I know I do. Consider these folks: The young Parisian train ticket agent. Did he truly not understand "Round Trip" in the middle of my broken-French? Or did he sell us One Way's on purpose? (We get stuck behind automatic security gates that stubbornly remain shut, even though we mimic scores of other train travelers that scan and exit the sliding

Couldn’t help it. Had to butt right into the top of my own newsletter to announce I made a hole-in-one on the golf course! Skip to the end of this email if you must read the riveting tale right away. If not, let me get into the guts of today’s blog first. It begins with non-golfer Andy Warhol... Sometimes the little times you don't think are anything while they're happening turn out to be what marks a whole period of your life. - Andy Warhol When artist Andy Warhol said this

First off, the most important thing I have to write is thank you. Thank you for reading this blog. Though I cut back on the frequency mid-year, I think about you and this hardy band of subscribers often. What I know for sure: I would not be writing my book, if not for this support. Thank you. And now... Happy Christmas Eve! I learn by going where I have to go.  -Theodore Roetchke from "The Waking” If you read this on Monday morning, think  of Juan and me on interstate 70 head