On the challenges of writing fiction, part 4

I hope your week brings you as many good books as you would like. ### Dojo Wisdom for Writers, second edition, now available on Amazon in print and ebook! (Nook and other ebook versions here) Catch a Falling Star (by Jessica Starre) and The Matchmaker Meets Her Match (by Jenny Jacobs), two of my favorite…

This past weekend, Jessica and I showed her glass at an art fair, the first time we’ve done something like that. She was anxious because she knew that people would want to talk to her and she wasn’t sure what she would say to them, and while she can talk your ear off if she…

The first one comes in the fall of Jessica’s junior year, a letter from the admissions office of Kansas State University. I don’t immediately recognize what it is. Once I do, for a moment hope flaps its vain and tinsel wings. Maybe it’s true. Maybe my daughter can go to college, and get a great…

So I promised myself that I wouldn’t overschedule my time this summer,  because I wanted to have plenty of opportunity to finish a handful of creative projects I’ve been working on since forever. This is how I thought it would go:   But if you have been following along, you know that it has gone…

At the coffee shop, two young women who’ve recently completed their freshman year of college are comparing notes and talking about what they’ll be doing in the fall. Then they move on to a discussion about applying for study abroad programs that will take place in their junior year, and one of them says, “It’s…