A few months ago, I created an outdoor altar otherwise known as a poetry box. Here I make the most intimate and important offering I know how to make to the world: poems. I started on the week of his 100th birthday by showcasing William Stafford’s “A Ritual to Read to Each Other,” a poem I have been living by … Read More
Pigeons under the eaves
At each elbow, I am flanked by cats as I sit propped on pillows in bed. Alongside the base of my bed, my beloved old dog lies facing out toward anything she might need to defend us from. On her dog bed, a cat curled tight into the dog-made center dent. Sleep has been so difficult for me in recent … Read More
Listen To Your Mother on May 11
On May 11, Listen To Your Mother will be “giving motherhood a microphone” through a series of live stage readings in 32 cities nationwide in celebration of Mother’s Day. I’m so excited to be reading in Portland’s inaugural event with an all-star cast of 12 women exploring the hilarity, heartbreak and humility of motherhood. (Much to my own mother’s disappointment, the stories are not … Read More
Literary love for Portlanders
Poetry, productivity, prose, oh my. I’d love for you to join me at an upcoming event in Portland. LIVE WRITING WORKSHOP SERIES Finding Your Stride: How to Build Momentum in Your Writing Life // with Sage Cohen, Christi Krug and guest Laura Stanfill Three literary leaders offer their most effective tools and strategies to help you find balance and move toward … Read More
Are you making enough mistakes?
It was a 5-star review of The Productive Writer. The reviewer had clearly appreciated and benefited from the book. She spent a paragraph saying so. And then she dedicated the second half of the review to venting about a typo that displeased her. This fascinated me. Because I have come to see that one particular typo, repeated multiple times throughout … Read More
Dear Raspberry,
When I returned Noe to the earth and she sent her staccato of sweetness up into the unending sky, I was not yearning for more than I was given. Then the blueberries got to chattering all along the lattice of the deck and you rose from your empty decade, your margin of darkness to reach a bracken arm in. Volunteer … Read More
The Poetics of Prose: 10 Crossover Truths for Fierce Writing
Language is the current that story travels on. It is the scaffolding of story. It is the engine. It needs to support the house. It needs to flow into the big waters. It needs to provide the most efficient transportation for where you want your reader to go. I taught a workshop last weekend called “Fierce on the Page” as part … Read More
Who were you before you were a writer?
Just as an acorn contains the destiny of the oak, our little pre-K or elementary-school selves knew everything we needed to know about who we are, what we love, and the lives we are best suited to live. But unlike the oak, we have a lot of influences throughout our lives that can drastically confuse the matter. By the time … Read More
Craft and productivity workshops
Happy New Year! I’m very excited to be launching 2014 with two learning opportunities. If you’d like to increase the potency of your language or build momentum in your writing life, I hope you’ll join me! Making It in Changing Times Writing Conference WORKSHOP: Fierce on the Page: Increase the Potency and Impact of Your Language Fierce writers create a … Read More
The gift you give yourself
Happy holidays to you! I hope this finds you warm and well, steeped in the company and traditions that delight you most. I want to propose that we all give a very special gift to ourselves this holiday season. One that is hard to know how to identify and even harder to know how to give. Permission. Permission to be … Read More