Writer’s Mental Health
The Forgiveness Cure
I’m in the midst of editing my new novel, OUR DAILY BREAD, which will be released in the US in September. It’s the story of what happens in a small town when, for generations, certain folks have been ostracized, pushed away and left to fend for themselves. Considered Those People—beyond the pale, beyond redemption—they become…
Read MoreDeath Be Not Proud
“Death is a test of one’s maturity. Everyone has got to get through it on their own. I want very much to die. I want to become part of that vast extraordinary light. But dying is hard work. Death is in control of the process, I cannot influence its course. All I can do is…
Read MoreFamiliarity breeds….
I’m in the process of editing my manuscript, OUR DAILY BREAD, which will be published in the fall. Now, I’ve read this manuscript probably thirty times. My Best Beloved, who is also my first reader, has probably read it five times. My agent has read it at least once. My editor has read it a…
Read MoreRescued by a Rescue Dog
All right, I’ll just come right out and say it — I’ve become one of those annoying people who, if encouraged in even the smallest way, spend a good part of any conversation talking about my dog. If you read my recent post, “The Liberating Poetics of Low Expectations,” this probably comes as no surprise. …
Read More20 years married. Who'd have believed it?
As of today, My Best Beloved and I have been married for 20 years. This comes as something of a shock, especially to me. Prior to meeting My Best Beloved I did not have a great track record with relationships. I blame myself for this entirely. I chose the wrong men for the right reasons,…
Read MoreMore than enough shame to go around
Anyone who has read this blog even occasionally knows my feelings on the psychological dangers inherent in chasing the publishing carrot and the sort of relentless self-promotion writers (and many other artists) are expected to engage in these days. Sure, we all want readers and publishing can be lovely, but I don’t believe the way…
Read MoreFame and fortune — step right up!
“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” — William Wordsworth Someone I’ve never met recently accused me (via, not surprisingly, an anonymous blog comment somewhere) of being a liar and a cynic because I lead monthly creative writing workshops. This person stated I was essentially conning people, making money by offering false hope…
Read MoreDon't worry about the other horses.
I recently had an email exchange with an artist whose work I admire greatly. She’s an accomplished photographer whose work, in recent times, she feels is getting lost in the swamp. It seems everybody with an eyeball is snapping away with their digital cameras and calling themselves professional photographers these days, just like everybody with…
Read MoreRiding the tree roots
I wonder if you, like me, have ever found yourself sitting in the dark, tear-stained and brittle with anguish, listening to Tom Waits, perhaps, emptying a bottle of scotch, or a pot of coffee, maybe smoking cigarette after cigarette, staring out a fractured glass into the night, your soul blank, your stomach churning, your thoughts…
Read MorePlaying in Inkwood
I was twenty, and it was somewhere round three o’clock in the morning. I sat at a battered desk in the corner of the bedroom in my basement apartment in Montreal. The floor was warped from one of the unending water leaks in the ancient plumbing and the desk wobbled. Charlie Mingus’s music played from…
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