I love this photo, taken in the early 1940s, of a skilled shop technician at the Douglas Aircraft factory in Long Beach, Calif, where they made B-17s and other aircraft used in World War II. The image is beautiful in itself, but the woman in it also looks fully absorbed in what she’s doing. The… Continue reading »
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Thank you, Lauren Groff
From a Harvard Gazette interview with fiction writer Lauren Groff, whose most recent book is the short-story collection Florida: GAZETTE: You are a mother of two. In 10 years you have produced three novels and two short story collections. Can you talk about your process and how you manage work and family? GROFF: I understand that this… Continue reading »
On the Open Road
I’m back! Well, I never went away, really. I’ve racked up a number of bylines since 2015, and powered (staggered?) through a book proposal that’s now making the rounds. (Godspeed, little proposal! Somewhere out there is the perfect editor for you.) I also spent the last two-and-a-half years on a tour of duty in the… Continue reading »
Dying of Exposure
In 2003, I wrote a spirited–some would say snarky–op-ed for the Washington Post. Headlined “It’s a Little Too cozy in the Blogosphere,” it called out what I saw as excessive chumminess and logrolling in the then-new literary blogosphere. I took some heat from members of said blogosphere, some of whom forgave me and went on… Continue reading »
A Cinderella Story
Look! I have a short story out this week! “Nobody’s Girl” is a Cinderella postmortem of sorts. The setup: Cindy writing a letter to her dad while on her honeymoon. I always wondered why Cinderella’s dad didn’t stand up for his daughter more, and whether that made her angry. Why wouldn’t it? “Nobody’s Girl” lets… Continue reading »
