Sitting on the beach last Sunday, I noticed a woman walking amid the rocks at low tide, bent over to collect seaweed. I have seen many people search for starfish and seaglass and shells on these north shore beaches, but never this stuff, which is the opposite of showy — nearly colorless. As she passed…

Oh dear. I am relaxed. Now what happens? I finished the book (and various edits) over a month ago and I have not yet plunged into my next big project. I’m not sitting on my thumbs, of course. I’m not built that way. I’ve been reading for fun. Frivolous books; titles I’m not going to…

Every morning I brush my teeth, brew coffee, turn on the computer, check my email and click on the Breast Cancer site to make a free donation to make mammograms available for those who cannot afford them. It is a tiny gesture in solidarity with the women I know (and all the ones I don’t)…

I’m not sure why I didn’t stop writing when my reading circle stopped growing beyond 12 people. Maybe it is because blogging is inherently valuable to me. The responsibility of it makes me notice the details of my experiences and feelings. I live life more fully because I blog. This was one of the comments…

There was a great story in today’s New York Times about blogs and our fantasies for them. The dream of bloggers everywhere is that we will become well-known, if not famous, thanks to the effortless publication that is the blog. That we will be discovered, be invited to produce books for mass markets, make a…

Several weeks ago, I wrote about my addiction to checking the location of readers who stop by this blog. That confession prompted more comments than any other posting so far. So I thought perhaps you’d like to know from whence come some of your far-flung brethren and (more likely) sister-en. States heard from in the…

It’s baaack! The title and cover image have been finalized. The book tour is shaping up. A photographer has been hired to make me look … creative? mysterious? authorial? But the galleys are back with me, which means the book itself isn’t quite finished and I get to make changes to the manuscript of DAY…

I write fiction that celebrates the power of friendship. Although my novels are very different from one another in form, style, and setting, that is the one constant. In my collection of essays, “Pitching My Tent: On Marriage, Motherhood, Friendship, and Other Leaps of Faith” the subtitle elevates friendship to the level of family. And…