“My agent and editor started talking about ‘the list’ from the start, virtually ensuring that I’d consider myself a failure if I didn’t make it. At first, when they
The first time I looked for a job, Help Wanted was divided into three sections: Men, Women, and General. If memory serves me (I doubt it) men’s jobs were the
“I speak not for myself but for those without voice… those who have fought for their rights… their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with dignity,
While readying to write about Professor Cromer Learns to Read, I searched for a quote or statistic that would put in perspective the overwhelming job families have caring for brain-injured
During my (self-guided, self-nagged) courses in my ‘Homemade MFA’ I did many things: I read stacks of books, I read multiple favorite novels with an analytical eye, I participated in
“I am not a hero. I stand at the end of the long, long line of good Dutch people who did what I did or more—much more—during those dark and
The trailer for Accidents of Marriage, releasing Sept. 2. Read an excerpt here.
“When Baba Segi awoke with a bellyache for the sixth day in a row, he knew it was time to do something drastic about his fourth wife’s childlessness. He
If a coward dies a thousand deaths, and a brave one dies but one, then I have died at least a million times. I live my life cowering (at least
(This post first ran in 2011) In the continuous stream of NPR that is my life, I just learned that Jerri Nielson died of breast cancer. Dr. Nielson wrote a
Perhaps the lure of the bad boy is similar to the lure of climbing Mt. Everest. It feels so good to conquer it and get to the top—despite all the
Last night I watched a TMC documentary: And The Oscar Goes To. Saying that I wept is about as meaningful as saying I sneezed—I am the easiest tears-mark in the world.
Truly, it is easier to find out the average cost of a meal or nail polish (found them both in one try) than it is to find out most statistics on book sales (try
Food and Loathing: A Life Measured Out in Calories by Betsy Lerner Everyone hates a fat woman. Or is it that a fat woman thinks everyone hates her?
“Don’t forget; Jewish people read an enormous amount,” my lovely (and Jewish) literary agent said before my book launch. “We really love books.” I nodded. Yes, I knew that—at least I
Imagine this: Someone asks you to marry them, and because you are so eager (desperate?) to wed, you say yes—even though you don’t know them, don’t know what they expect,
Amazing. Here I am, about to realize my longest-held-dream—publishing a novel—and my biggest concern is whether I‘ll look fat at the launch party. No matter what the event, we always
There something a little creepy about knowing that when friends, family, neighbors, and mailman read the novels I wrote, that they’re probably thinking: So that’s what she thinks about when
Beginning a book is easier than ending it (at least for me.) A beginning is exciting and glittery, filled with excitement and hope. First sentences are sexy. They pop
“Justice is better than chivalry if we cannot have both.†-Alice Stone Blackwell The Internet is a tricky beast. Sitting alone, cozy in ragged sweatpants, writing while curled on
I never met a book by Ruth Reichl I haven’t loved, and my adoration continued with this book. Where others were hearty meals, Not Becoming My Mother was a deceptively simple snack.
When I was a reader, I spoke as a reader, I understood as a reader. When I became a writer, I read as a writer, I understood as a writer.
The first time I looked for a job, Help Wanted was divided into three sections: Men, Women, and General. If memory serves me (I doubt it) men’s jobs were the
  Motivations behind some choices seem so impenetrable that even squinting close enough to crash into the subject you won’t find a mental foothold. That’s how I felt about Bernie