"I remember the day I started to write that. It was in January, a Sunday. I went down to the bookstore, which wasn’t open Sundays, and locked myself in. My husband had said he would get dinner, so I had the afternoon. I remember looking around at all the great…
Two men are sitting diagonally from each other debating the economy. One is getting more wound up than the other. He has a slight French accent and is wearing shorts with white socks pulled up tight. He is giving analogies about “the old days.” He is picking up the newspaper…
A man who is balding but also growing his hair long comes into the coffeeshop with a girl who could be his daughter. They sit on the couch in front of me and both pick up a section of the newspaper that is in front of them. The girl reads…
I finished reading this book a few days ago. It took me a while, because reading Alice Munro both uplifts me and makes me feel like writing is futile. To distract myself from the latter feeling, I often flipped to the inscription on the front. Yesterday it was my birthday…
When I was a kid, I knew I'd love being an adult. But more than being able to stay up late and eat cake for breakfast if I wanted to, what I didn't anticipate was how great it would feel to spend time with old friends, and their parents, sitting…
I seem to be preparing for winter hibernation much too early; before it even threatens snow. I walk through the library, judging books by their covers. I read voraciously in the mornings, when it's still dark. In the daytime, I discover ideas for short stories I'd forgotten about. And last…
Best background noise to read to. This was a few days ago. Last night there was rain, but there was intense thunder and flashing lightning, too, all around us, all the time. All summer I've been longing for a really good thunderstorm and then I got what I asked for,…
Today I went to the library to write, a new library, which I like much better than my local one. This new one has many staircases and little nooks with desks and comfortable chairs, and windows with trees and light on the other side, and a fireplace. And it was…
J sort of accidentally added my novel draft to Goodreads. Well, he meant to do it, but he didn't know I would feel weird about it. But that was days ago and I actually think it's kind of amusing now. I hate the title and only two people in the…
White wine on a sun-setting balcony as the humidity fades. They talk about Europe, about where they're going and where they've been. I don't say much. Instead, I slurp my wine and daydream about Germany, though my time there was too short and the things seen were too few. I…
