Might and Main Monday: Ann Patchett
Writer Ann Patchett says it all in this quote about the creation of art and the importance of forgiveness. It’s from her article, “The Getaway Car,” reprinted in This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage. Forgiveness. The ability to forgive oneself. Stop here for a few breaths and think about this because it is the key to making art, and very possibly the key to finding any semblance of happiness in life. Every time I have set out to translate the book … that exists in such brilliant detail on…
Why I Wrote a Novel About a Unique Apple: Origins
When I look back on the origins of Harvesting the Sky, my novel about a unique apple, I can’t believe how long it took me to discover something that was an obvious fit. But at the time, I couldn’t see it. For years, I resisted the idea of writing fiction about plants. By day, I worked as a gardener, designing and maintaining clients’ gardens and at night, I wrote gardening articles for fun. During graduate school at Goddard College, I’d written a thesis novel about an ethics professor with a…
A Lesson From Neil Gaiman in How to Write Emotion
Neil Gaiman’s novel Neverwhere is a funny macabre urban fantasy that focuses on a regular everyman named Richard. One night, he accidentally gets sucked into a magical world beneath London. And when I say beneath London, I mean in the sewers. It’s a mucky dank world where most people are out for themselves as they barter, plot, and kill. Richard’s sole motivation is to get home to “London Above” as he goes on an adventure with a ragtag group seeking an angel named Islington who may or may not be able…
7 Things I Learned From Doing NaNoWriMo
A couple of years ago, I decided to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). With focused vigor, I dove into writing a 50,000-word story. It was an intense, frustrating, and ultimately, rewarding journey. I got to live in my story for 30 days. Set in Paris, about a cool botanist, secretive and suspenseful, with plants at the book’s heart, I wrote the tale I wanted to read. But it wasn’t easy, and there were several things I could have done differently. Here’s what I learned about the process.
How My Work as an Editor Gave Me Insight into Querying Literary Agents
Before I became a professional gardener, I worked as an editor. These were good and not-so-good years in my life because though I worked with words, I wasn’t writing enough of my own. For awhile, I worked at a large internet retailer I won’t name. Let’s just say, they sold everything from A to Z. I was overwhelmed with work. The upshot was I wrote a ton of articles and reviews about music and videos and some books. But it wasn’t until I left that job and examined my life that…
