My Writerly Life

Index

  • WRITING WITH A LILT

    Over the years I’ve noticed that I am drawn to literary writing with a lilt—a cadence as though the author was a poet or came from a culture like Ireland or Scotland, with their shared Gaelic history. Anne Michaels, a Canadian poet, writes in a loosely structured novelistic style and infuses her poetic self throughout.… Read More

  • THE REAL CROMWELL?

    History is written by the victors. . . and then rewritten over the following decades, as it suits those in power. Or makes good reading or an exciting film. This is never more obvious than the changing descriptions of Thomas Cromwell, who rose from relative obscurity to great wealth as the chief adviser to King… Read More

  • GROWING OLD

    Very few literary novels deal with the delicate subject of growing old. After all, even the most scholarly author, the most erudite, needs to attract readers, and this is hardly a jolly topic—old age, with its proximity to death. And yet, if literary works are an exploration of the human condition, aging must be among… Read More

  • NOVELS AS MOVIES

    In 2025, a spate of movies were released based on literary novels, modern and classical. There was Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein (a re-imagining of Mary Shelley’s gothic work); Francois Ozon’s The Stranger (Albert Camus’ 1942 novella); Kei Ishikawa’s A Pale View of Hills (Kazuo Ishiguro);Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet (Maggie O’Farrell) and Clint Bentley’s Train Dreams (Denis… Read More

  • OUT OF FAVOR

    Back in 2005, I discovered Irish author John Banville and his Booker Prize-winning novel, The Sea. His protagonist Max Morden is recently widowed and dealing with earlier losses in his life. Personally, I found Morden to be insufferably self-absorbed—which is a cruel thought, really—the man is in mourning! And yet that is the drum-beat of… Read More

  • MUSCULAR FICTION

    We writers are a chummy group. We often attend the same university classes, study under the same mentors, cheer each other on, and cry in our beer together. It doesn’t much matter whether we write poetry or prose–the challenges and defeats are the same. And the job does not get any easier as publishers go… Read More

  • THE HERO’S JOURNEY

    Whether or not we give it much thought, there is a literary device known as “The Hero’s Journey” that repeats often in literature, from classical tales like Homer’s The Odyssey and Dante’s The Divine Comedy, to modern novels, and even action films. There is a formula to the device: (1) a departure from the ordinary… Read More

  • GREAT MODERN AUTHORS

    It is easy enough to identify the great writers of earlier centuries because time has proven their mettle. Even the most casual reader knows about the greats, from the Bronte sisters to Proust. The more difficult task is to identify their modern successors. That was the premise behind my launch of a book club–A Novel… Read More

  • COMING HOME

    It feels like a homecoming of sorts this return to blogging—a great love that got lost in the minutiae of the last couple of years. So let me welcome you back, invite you to follow along, and tell you what to expect. But first, I guess I should account for my absence. I doubt it… Read More

  • LITERARY DRAMA

    Some forms of communication deal with cold facts, while others intend to rouse emotions. For example, it would be possible to read an historical report on the Holocaust without feeling deep sorrow or moral outrage. But read about it in Thomas Kenneally’s 1982 novel Schindler’s Ark, or watch it unfold on the screen in the… Read More

  • EDGING INTO JAMES JOYCE

    For a very long time, I have been avoiding that great Irish writer, James Joyce (1882-1941) even though I have a thing for Irish authors (Sebastian Barry, John Banville, Colum McCann, Kevin Barry, Sara Baume, each with a wonderful lilt to their writing, and each more accessible than Joyce). Take McCann’s emotional short story, “Everything… Read More

  • INTRIGUING PLOT TWISTS

    Stories told in every medium may take advantage of the literary device informally known as the plot twist, but none do it quite so well as the older short stories. Today let’s take a look at four of my favorites—and fair warning: I intend to report the surprise endings! Kate Chopin wrote in the late… Read More

  • MY FAVORITE READS

    My reading preferences have always bent toward literary novels, and over the years I have devoured some of the great works, like William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying and Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire. In the last 10-15 years, I shifted my focus to modern works that had a chance of earning a coveted place in… Read More

  • DISCOVERING SHAKESPEARE

    Like many people, I suspect, I was slow to embrace Shakespeare. In fact it did not happen until the senior year of my BA in Literature, when I had no choice. Fortunately, my instructor was the head of the department and a Shakespeare scholar. As a result of her forced immersion, I now include a… Read More

  • CITY MOUSE & COUNTRY MOUSE

    Years back, I was living just down the road from my cousin—the inspiration for the lead character in my novel, WRANGLE. The blogsite, Women Writing the West, was kind enough to print this post about Sharon’s ranching life, and I’m sure they would not object to a reprint: My cousin Sharon McAmis was the inspiration… Read More

  • SURRENDERING TO POETRY

    Poetry was once a major literary form, but has faded from popularity in a world of impatient, busy people who write in emojis. Now imagine trying to get college freshmen to slow down and dig through the elevated language and hidden meanings and to stop and absorb the poem’s emotional gifts. As an instructor, I… Read More

  • FROM CAIRO TO TEXAS

    As a former journalist, I am interested in the career of others in the profession—and that of Lawrence Wright has confounded me for some time. Why does the author of the internationally acclaimed book, The Looming Tower, choose to write two politically charged books on Texas in later years? That strikes me as a strange… Read More

  • CREATIVITY & THE CLASSROOM

    When it comes to creative classroom experiences, one would be hard-pressed to find a teacher who delivers that better than Robyn Carter, a writer and prolific innovator who has her fifth graders producing graphic novels and videos. I am in awe of the results—an explosion of imaginative ideas, sights and sounds. I have been wanting… Read More

  • HARDING: THIS OTHER EDEN

    Paul Harding roared onto the literary scene in 2010 by winning the Pulitzer for his first novel, Tinkers—a beautiful work of art marked by its rhythmic prose reflective of his musical background. Harding’s third novel, This Other Eden, certainly maintains his reputation for lyrical, complex writing that forces you past the surface plot into deeper… Read More

  • THE CRAFT OF WRITING

    Let me start with an admission that no writing conference would dare ask me to lecture because I am far too blunt with young writers. The average conference wants every kind of budding author to come, enjoy, return; I want to share the truth about the rigors of our craft. I have this firm belief… Read More