I have questions, too


I like to think I am a highly organized, super-together individual who happens to be a writer, and not one of those flighty people we often imagine when we think of the word “writer.” But sometimes I am one of those flighty people. So I started by spending fifteen minutes looking for my glasses. And…
In remembered rapture: the writer at work, author bell hooks says, “It takes critical vigilance not to be swept away by all the forces of materialist greed that encourage any writer eager to be more successful to dispense with integrity in the interest of making the big deals.” She says, “Young writers . . ….
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…
The most important story you’ll ever tell isn’t the one you commit to a page. It’s the one you tell yourself about your life. The other day, I was listening to a colleague tell me about the lack of support she was getting from her family as she pursued a freelance career. This is a…
I am at the coffee shop and I am thinking, which means—today, anyway—that I am staring out the window and wondering whose life I would rather have. Most of the time my observation is none of you people have the slightest idea what the fuck you’re doing, do you? and so my answer is, conveniently,…
Let me state for the record that all of the things I have done in life made sense at the time. I have never once thought, “Well, this will be an expensive, foolish, and ultimately useless endeavor. Where do I sign up?” No, I always think it is absolutely the right course of action under…