Wearing Their Husband’s Sins
When Bernie Madoff’s crimes came to light, Ruth Madoff caught the rage right along side him. With no evidence, she was thrown on a virtual pyre—charged guilty by association and
May 18, 2017
Money, Me & THE WIDOW OF WALL STREET
Money. It’s our last taboo. People spill seamy details about their sex lives before talking about their finances, salary, or savings accounts. And yet, despite this curtain of silence, money
April 26, 2017
Love me! Read me! Buy me! Writer’s Fear-Clenching Book Launch Thoughts
 Book launch day shoots towards me like an asteroid. Three weeks. Not ready. Almost-final drafts of essays surround me. Fear, sleeplessness, and worry consume me. I won’t get reviewed.
March 22, 2017
KISS Rules: Balancing Vigilance, Work & Life
I write novels. Stories. I’m not a journalist.I work at separating my writing life and political views. But, having grown up with stories of the Holocaust, with family who left
January 26, 2017
Tethered: A novel by Amy Mackinnon
Death is the last frontier in so many ways. In my circles, even friends who talk about sex, politics, and that most forbidden of topics, paychecks, rarely talk about the
December 30, 2016
We’re All Immigrants: The Recipe Edition!
My dear friend, Robin Black, made the wise suggestion of having an election night dinner that was a tribute to immigrants. There are few few among us in America
November 7, 2016
Voting, We’re All Children of Immigrants
Not to get all Freudian, but last night I woke gasping for breath (repeatedly), paralyzed with fear, riding waves of Donald Trump smothering me. The nightmare stapled me to
November 5, 2016
Bonus Track: An Epilogue for THE COMFORT OF LIES: “Savannah at 14”
Note: Readers have written, asking what happens to Savannah, who was six years old when “The Comfort of Lies†ends. This epilogue was in the original manuscript—I thought some readers
October 25, 2016
Behind One Writer’s Group Curtain (at The Boston Book Festival)
How does a writer, working alone, manage isolation? The initial spark of a
October 10, 2016
Not Our Shame
With every listen, the Trump sex assault tape sounds worse. Every syllable engenders feelings of being small and wretched and humiliated. I search for the genesis of these emotions, for
October 8, 2016
Writer Wars, Hierarchy & Can We Get Over Ourselves?
I’ve been mid-book since my addiction began at age four and I pray to have a TBR stack until the moment I die. On that heap I want it all:
September 12, 2016
THE WIDOW OF WALL STREET
The Widow of Wall Street: A novel about the seemingly blind love of a wife for her husband as he conquers Wall Street, and her extraordinary, perhaps foolish, loyalty during his
August 3, 2016
THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE By John Godey: The Book
Before there was the movie, and the other movie, there was, The Book. I liked the first movie. I loved the second movie. Denzel Washington. John Travolta. Luis
June 23, 2016
Why Did She Stay? How Come Nobody’s Asking Why He Did It?
(Originally posted September 2014) And the blame continues. Twitter & Facebook abound with it. Some claim with surety that they’d leave after the first minute a man touched them. Other
October 21, 2015
Massachusetts Book Award!
The Massachusetts Center for the Book has chosen Accidents of Marriage as a “Must Read” book for 2015! It’s in wonderful company–you can see the full list for the fiction category
September 17, 2015
The Discomfort of Death
Yes, death is the last frontier. In my circles, even friends who talk about sex, politics, and that most forbidden of topics, paychecks, rarely talk about the nitty-gritty of death.
July 31, 2015
Seeing Themes & Obsessions In Novels
“There have been two great accidents in my life. One was the trolley, and the other was Diego. Diego was by far the worst.”–Frida Kahlo Writers often don’t recognize their
July 1, 2015
My Father Bought Me Pretty Shoes
I dreaded Father’s Day as a child. Every year (during those far less aware days) we were asked to make a card for our father as a classroom project. My
June 21, 2015
Madelyn & Madeline: When A Character Pops Out Of Your Book
There’s a reason more people understand the Holocaust from The Diary of Ann Frankthan from The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Story. Since the cave man days we’ve
May 13, 2015
JESSE, A MOTHER’S STORY: A Ferocious and Raging Love
I started Jesse, A Mother’s Story twice. The stark beauty of this memoir hit me the moment I began. Marianne Leone’s narrative, written with an unrelenting immediacy, yanked me into
May 6, 2015
Fiction From Emotional Fact
A parent’s tragedy will always influence the life of their children—often to an overwhelming degree. Writing fiction from the emotional truth of one’s past can be liberating and also
May 1, 2015
Writerly Etiquette
As I waited for my first novel to launch, I was told by the experienced: 1) “Don’t expect to get on Oprah.” (I wasn’t.) 2) Waiting for launch was “the
April 27, 2015
Raised by Books
Perhaps every insatiable reader has a book so thoroughly imprinted at a vulnerable age, that they carry those characters like family of the heart forever. Some marked me for horror.
April 10, 2015
How To Use Critique & Advice
When it comes to criticism from my writer’s group, I need to hear or read the same idea two, three, or four times before I can incorporate it into my
March 15, 2015