Thumbnail artwork by Catrin Welz-Stein, Sophie Backall, Christian Schloe, Jin Xingye
Several months ago (I’m behind on updating my blog!), I moderated a roundtable discussion with members of the Columbia University community on the topic Structuring Your Novel. Writers gathered on Zoom to share techniques from initial concept to completed first draft....
This past February, in collaboration with Columbia Fiction Foundry, I hosted a panel discussion with agents from DeFiore & Company. This was an exciting opportunity to learn from industry experts Brian DeFiore, Miriam Altshuler, Caryn Karmatz Rudy, and Reiko...
It took a long time to write a post about disappointment. It’s not a story I wanted to tell, but discouragement—and resilience—are part of a writer’s life. I hope that in sharing honestly my experience, I can shed light on an aspect of publishing that’s rarely spoken...
You’ve finished your book and braved the querying trenches. You’ve signed with an agent who has begun the process of submitting your novel to publishing houses. The process can take months, with no guarantee that there will be a publication contract at the end of it....
Sometimes something happens that you’ve hoped and worked and waited for for so long, you can’t quite believe it’s real, or maybe it’s more that you’re afraid if you blink, it will go away. Maybe this happens when, for example, your children are born. One day they’re...
The final installment of my interview with Daniela Petrova, author of HER DAUGHTER'S MOTHER, is up on the Columbia Fiction Foundry YouTube channel. Daniela’s debut novel, published by Putnam, has been named “One of Five Thrillers to Read This Summer” by Time Magazine,...
The second installment of my interview with Daniela Petrova, author of the debut novel, HER DAUGHTER'S MOTHER, is now up on YouTube. In this segment Daniela shares how she cultivated sources in order to do research for the police scenes in her book. She also discusses...
In memory of the upcoming tenth anniversary of my father's death, I thought I'd take a moment to remember the poet Richard Moore, 1927-2009. During the last months of his life, Richard wrote the following fragment. What better person to share his accomplishments than...
On September 7th, hosted by Columbia University’s Fiction Foundry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Daniela Petrova, author of the debut novel, HER DAUGHTER'S MOTHER. Daniela and I enjoyed a wide-ranging conversation about the novel and what it takes to get a book...
This past weekend sixteen of my teammates and I packed up our tennis racquets, team uniforms, sunblock, visors and determination to head up to Schenectady NY to compete in the USTA Eastern 18+ Sectional Championships. The Sectionals bring together all five regions of...
I’ve been busy scribbling away, writing the last chapters of Traveling Light, when I knew it couldn’t wait any longer. I had to visit the horses! I drove up to Montrose, NY on a drizzly Tuesday to visit my friend Will, his wife Beth, and their menagerie of chickens,...
On April 6, at the Columbia Alumni Center in New York City, I had the pleasure of interviewing Greer Hendricks, co-author, with Sarah Pekkanen, of THE WIFE BETWEEN US, which spent 26 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers List, and AN ANONYMOUS GIRL, which debuted...
