The girl in the puffy red coat

You know how, at the start of a big endeavor, you worry that you’ll never drive it to completion? That you’re about to bite off more than you can chew and delude yourself in general? How embarrassing the very thought of failing to finish what you started feels?...

This fly-by-night actor who knows bupkiss

I once had a conversation with an actor who wanted to write a book about public speaking. I’ll call her Gloria, even though that’s not her name. Gloria had figured out, thanks to years of professional training and experience, how to be comfortable on stage...

Who knew this would be such an epic?

Walt got it into his head that he wanted to paint our deck. He figured, with a little scraping and a gallon of outdoor, weather-resistant paint, he could have the task done over a weekend. To this end, we ran to the local home and garden center with a paint chip to...

Dropping the armor

Walt and I were talking about the performance artist, Marina Abramovic, this morning. I don’t know if you’ve ever caught sight of this video clip of her sitting across the table from strangers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. People...
What a music video can teach you about writing

What a music video can teach you about writing

I broke my ankle a number of years ago. I ended up in the gym after six weeks of going crazy at home, which is precisely what happens when I don’t run.  I don’t tend to watch TV or music videos, but I happened to be on the stair-master one morning when this...
Advice from a literary agent

Advice from a literary agent

This is a guest post by my friend Lucinda Halpern, head of Lucinda Literary. Lucinda is a literary agent. That means she gets writers book deals with traditional publishing houses. Trust me, she’s no slouch. She’s gotten some pretty amazing deals for some...