Q: When did you start writing?

A: When I was a child, my parents enrolled me in a creative writing class. I barely remember it. It seems I remember the shame of failing at ballet lessons more so. But such humiliations are food for stories and poems. Never an athletic child, I lost myself in words. I’ve always been a reader. I may have read less in high school, but as an adult, I am never without a book. I’m also never without a potential poem or novel in my mind. I suppose that’s a faculty that developed early on, but it’s been later in life that I have actively cultivated the process. I am aware that if an idea emerges, I need to get the words out of the intangible ether of thought into keystrokes or on paper. I am aware that if I ignore these creative connections, they will break and ideas will be lost forever.

Q: What are you currently reading?

A: I’m reading Purgatorio in John Ciardi’s translation of The Divine Comedy. Before this, I read Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson. You can follow me on Goodreads to see my library of books and some of my reviews.

7/21/21

I just reread A Wrinkle in Time, primarily because it was featured in the Apple TV show, Ted Lasso (season 1), and I had not read it in a long time. I’m about to begin Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead. I’ve heard only good things. But primarily I am reading draft versions of two different novels. And by reading, I mean editing/revising.

5/3/24

The Libby App for libraries is brilliant. Through it, I’ve recently been listening to audio books. Two Ann Patchett books (The Dutch House and Tom Lake) were read to me by Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. That was great fun.