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what I'm reading right now
  • Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein
    Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein
    by Julie Salamon

    My sister gave me this biography of playwright Wendy Wasserstein for Christmas. It is a masterfully told tale of a complex woman, and a fantastic profile of what it takes to make art. I'd recommend it for anyone interseted in theater, writing, creativity and women making their way in the world.

writing in the real world ~ the basics
writing in the real world ~ blog archives
my favorite books about writing & creating
  • Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
    Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
    by Anne Lamott

    The first book every would-be writer should read, because Lamott gets so much right.

  • The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life
    The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life
    by Twyla Tharp

    A really smart and practical book about how habits feed creativity.

  • The First Five Pages: A Writer'S Guide To Staying Out of the Rejection Pile
    The First Five Pages: A Writer'S Guide To Staying Out of the Rejection Pile
    by Noah Lukeman

    Excellent advice for the beginning writer.

  • The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How to Write It, Sell It, and Market It . . . Successfully
    The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published: How to Write It, Sell It, and Market It . . . Successfully
    by Arielle Eckstut, David Henry Sterry

    An indespensible guide for anyone thinking at all seriously about publishing -- either self publishing or traditional publishing. The authors are super savvy.

  • The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself
    The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself
    by Susan Bell

    An extremely practical, useful book on editing. Should be on every writer's shelf.

guest blogs & print interviews

Five Minutes for Books, Guest Blog (43.3KB)
Peeking Between the Pages, Guest Blog (13.9KB)
Mother-Daughter Book Club, Guest Blog on having my daughters read my writing (19.8KB)
Book Club Classics, Guest Blog on Character Development (17.8KB)
Read my guest blog on writing, cancer, and accepting the stories that come to us, on novelist Meg Waite Clayton's website, and check out Meg's bestseller, The Wednesday Sisters.
The Creative Times -- Interview

Author Q&A from Leslie Levine's All Business website.

television, radio & live events

The Rosie O'Donnell Show, 2002. The Victoria's Secret Catalog Never Stops Coming and Other Lessons I Learned From Breast Cancer.
The Fanny Kiefer Show -- clip
Full tape from The Franny Kiefer Show -- 15 minutes
An hour-long audio interview from Barbara diMarco Barrett's "Writers on Writing" radio show. It's a fiction roundtable with me and authors Caroline Adderson and Anastasia Royal.
Before You Paint the Walls, You’ve Got to Imagine a Life: Notes from a Novelist on How to Come Home to Color. A talk sponosored by Benjamin Moore.

Clip from keynote address for Komen Race for the Cure Survivor Event, Irvine, CA, 2004.

 blog tour-- The Only True Genius in the Family

Book Club Queen (29.8KB)
Maw Books (36.1KB)
Review from Fizzythoughts.com (22.4KB)
29 Gifts (12.9KB)
Advice Sisters (61.2KB)
Grace's Book Blog (21.8KB)
Armchair Interviews (28.8KB)
Mother Daughter Book Club, Review + Q&A (34.3KB)
Word Lily (69.1KB)
So Cal Mom, Review (34.6KB)

Five Minutes for Books, Review (43.3KB)