Poet and memoirist Sascha Feinstein was my mentor during the last stretch toward my MFA. He helped me pull disparate pieces on memory hunting together into a cohesive thesis and, while doing so, pushed me to rethink language and expand moments I’d been avoiding. Later—years later, after I’d written much more—he helped me shape the…
Last night, I received a generous welcome to Westport Writers' Workshop, where I am now teaching nonfiction workshops. With fellow VCFAer Liz Matthews directing WWW, I'm instantly at home among these amazing writers and teachers. Linda Gibson, me, Doug Moser, Jessie McEntee, Charles Rafferty, Laura Pochintesta Even a 25-minute drive to an evening event can…
To travel (anywhere) unencumbered by small children is extraordinary: outside the normal, different from the daily. To travel knowing those small children are tracking each mile and fascinated by each hotel room and proud of each presentation is pure joy. J and the boys wave long goodbyes and hug long welcome-backs. In between, I immerse…
My favorite part of being at The Big E (New England's State Fair) today was listening to earliest-memory stories. I posed the question a number of ways—from what age is your earliest memory? how old are you in your earliest memory? how far back can you remember?—and passersby shared. Sitting cross-legged in the grass under…
"Does a book remember it once was a word?" —Nina Laden
