Thoughts about writing, and the universe.
I avoided Covid-19 for nearly three years, but it has finally caught up with me. On Tuesday night, I began feeling a tingle in my throat. Wednesday resembled the beginnings of a cold. My fever began Thursday. It wasn't until Friday, though, when I heard that one of my colleagues had tested positive, that I... Continue Reading →
One of the things I love about teaching literature is the way its central questions push my thinking. Usually teacher-Jimmy and writer-Jimmy inhabit distinct mental spaces, but sometimes the two dovetail alongside. With the start of the new school year, meeting new students, lesson planning, checking how advisees are settling in, I got to have... Continue Reading →
I'm forever more a planner when I write. Perhaps not down to the minute detail, and certainly my plans change as I go along, but I like to have a basic outline of plot events and thematic points that I expect the story to take up. I make long documents for planning, pages and paragraphs... Continue Reading →
On Friday, I received this package in the mail. Somehow, brilliantly, two beautiful contributor copies of Hunger Mountain, published by the Vermont College of Fine Arts had made their way across the ocean. I slid them from their paper wrapping. They were heavy. They were large. I cradled a copy in my hands, opened it,... Continue Reading →
A week ago, just as I was finalizing last week's blog post, I received an email letting me know that a magazine wanted to publish a short piece I had submitted to them. Oh? They do? Oh! Oh my. My that feels good. It has taken me some time, some grief, and lots of effort.... Continue Reading →
These enormous slugs. Disgusting, beautiful, unassuming, and everywhere. If self-judgement is alive, it is a pathogen. Risk factors for infection include writing. The exposed words form a nutrient-rich agar for the viral body, which divides and grows from word to paragraph to the whole self. Treatment is haphazard. We manage with uncertain steps. Some say... Continue Reading →
When a story gets stuck, I try to see it as an invitation. Amid the frustration, I seek what I have missed. What central element have I bypassed in this story that makes it tick slower, slower, slow until it halts? Often for me, the culprit is the undeveloped character. I plan the story and... Continue Reading →
I had a good reminder yesterday. The UWC network has been running a series of webinars these past few weeks from alumni, teachers, National Committee representatives, bringing the community together for discussions and presentations. It's been incredible, seeing the community come alive in this way--I've never felt so connected to the larger UWC network, one... Continue Reading →
In the story I have been drafting these last weeks, I've hit up against real edges in my knowledge. I have dived on into research, poring over academic articles, newspapers, and of course Wikipedia. I have taken awful volumes down of notes. I have learned much, and I've asked questions. I am generally not a... Continue Reading →
This post is part of the monthly Author Toolbox Blog Hop, in which writers post great resources and information relevant for other writers. Check out other #AuthorToolboxBlogHop posts here! And a caveat to the above: how useful will this post be to other writers? Perhaps not very. It's somewhat journal-heavy. It's somewhat bland. But if... Continue Reading →
Words like trees 