A Slava day defines you, as a Serb Where I come from, under the wing of the Orthodox Christian church, there is a custom which hinges on a saint’s…Continue readingSlava: a spiritual family reunion
Ben White (@benwhitephotography) at Unsplash Unbidden, unrehearsed, we supplied the next lines Many years ago, on Opening Day of the then-new glass-and-steel Library in downtown Seattle, my husband and I…Continue readingThe power of words
A few years back, a blog called ‘Universal Historicals’ interviewed me and asked some of the most interesting questions I’ve ever been asked. Some excerpts: What’s the one thing that…Continue readingInside a writer’s mind
Photo by Matthew Payne at Unsplash First drafts are supposed to be awful. That’s what they are for. You simply give yourself the permission necessary to write badly if you…Continue readingThe art of rewriting
Photo by Mike Wilson on Unsplash The difference I just spent an evening – together with several other women – trying desperately to explain to a man why #metoo matters…Continue readingIt’s a matter of consent
When I was a little girl, my home town library h?d only two sections – children’s, which I blew through in a spectacular fashion, and adult. We had no such…Continue reading‘Young Adult’, what’s that?
What is fiction for? Why on earth do we read fiction? One of my husband’s favorite “writer” stories concerns an author with a very Southern mother whom he called to…Continue readingLying for a living
I’m going to a writers’ retreat in a rustic and charming place on the shores of Lake Quinault in Washington. It’s March. The light is that earnest bright shade of…Continue readingThe writer and the storyteller