In addition to its being set in a place where I personally did not grow up, my new story also includes incidents that never happened to me. This means that I have to go find people who did have these experiences and ask many, many questions. How did it happen? What, exactly did you do? […]
Research at the Blow Fly Inn
I am doing research for my next book. Like my completed book, _Like Light from Stars_, this story takes place over multiple generations in a place with which I am familiar—in this case, St. Johns, where I have lived since 2005. However, that is not exactly several generations’ worth. I need to find out a […]
Metaphor and Dementia: Dancing in the Sky
In the metaphorical conversations I had with the patients on the dementia ward, certain themes came up again and again. Not surprising for people with late-stage terminal illness, a common theme was concern about work being finished. A teacher was anxious about whether the materials were ready for the next day’s classes. A caterer […]
Metaphors and Dementia: Dreams of Escape
Metaphors and Dementia: Dreams of Escape Continued from last week’s post: What excited me was that if I listened for the metaphors in what my demented, dying friend was saying, I could still understand him. We could communicate. I had to let go of the literal sense of what he said and let the real […]
Writers, Metaphor, and Dementia: David’s House
Years ago, long before the advent of protease-inhibitor cocktails, a close friend of mine was diagnosed with Kaposi’s sarcoma, which in those days was an AIDS-defining illness—a death sentence. I felt helpless and horrified, unable to do anything for my buddy, but wanted to do something useful, so I volunteered at Shanti, a San Francisco […]
Leaving the Best Day Job Ever
I have the best day job ever. I work at home. I never have to go into the office, which is 600 miles away. I set my own schedule. I can work more hours or fewer hours, as I please. My boss and long-distance co-workers are a pleasure to work with. The job is very […]
Thoth Delivers a Kick in the Pants
I had a dream that standing in front of me was a tall pale person with a bird’s head and a long, pointed beak that curved slightly downward. It had black feathers or hair in that style that used to be called a mohawk, from the top of its head and falling down its back, […]
His Heart Was Still Beating (Civil War)
This scene from Like Light from Stars takes place in a mule cart used as an ambulance, late in the American Civil War: In a cloud of red dust, a wagon clattered along a plank road between ravaged fields. The driver, a Union soldier in a filthy uniform, beat at the mule team with a switch. His […]
Third batch of early reader reviews
Here’s the third batch of early reader reviews of Like Light from Stars. I…enjoyed it immensely. I was completely caught up in your character development and felt like I was on an excellent walking tour of San Francisco. Alice Silverstein I started reading your book and can’t put it down! I feel like I’m there. […]
More Early Reader Reviews
Here’s the second batch of early reader reviews of Like Light from Stars: Once I started it, I couldn’t put it down, and ended up devouring it in one gulp. Many times I had to stop for a while because I was crying too hard to see. Ginny Schwingel I read your book cover to […]