NOT EVERY WRITER SHOULD LIVE IN NEW YORK
From a letter to Edward Hoagland from Edward Abbey, 16 April 1976: “I wonder if there even really is such a thing as a ‘red-hot center’ in American literary life? When I try to think of the contemporary American writers, poets, and novelists I most admire, they seem to...
AT MY DESK
Between having a full-time job and raising a child, I’m not at my desk often enough these days, but when I am, what I like best is the window over it. From my desk you can see the roof of my retired neighbor Skip’s house, and a bird’s eye view of the neighborhood past that....
KEEPING DINNER SIMPLE
Minnesotans love summer like no one else I’ve ever lived among. It’s the six months of winter that does it; the 75-degree days and the lakes don’t hurt, either. My husband and I love the break from teaching; our daughter loves spending hour after hour swinging from the monkey...
Writing matters. But it is only part of my life. The rest of the time, I work at being a parent, teacher, wife, citizen, and friend. I think a lot about what makes a writing life possible, and what makes life meaningful enough to be worth writing about.