Losing My Religion How and when did my doubts begin? They began with fervent religiosity, a dedication to serving God, and a lot of prayer. I was 13. In the seventh grade, I had enrolled in a strict Christian school in South Carolina that frowned on girls wearing pants and introduced each science course with […]
The Beauty of Uncertainty Read More »
My college creative writing teacher said he had known a renowned writer who had written a terrible book. It was so abominable, he said, that anyone in his entire class of beginners could have done much better. It was so bad that my teacher had avoided the writer at a party and refused to speak to
Writing Fiction: The Problem of Trying to Please Read More »
They come back. They always come back. The bane of summer, they make their last creepy stand in late autumn. The falling temperature slows them to a torpid crawl. Soon the frost sends them retreating into their underground lairs, where they will slumber for many months, conserving energy. When summer comes again, they will usethis
Ants, People — and the Genius of Survival Read More »
When you stare at words all day, it starts to affect you. Lately I have written so much that I see sentences floating behind my eye-lids when I am trying to go to sleep; even worse is that I often try to revise them. In light of this, it may not be surprising that I
My Great, Manic Comma Blizzard – and My Torrid Tryst with a Dash Read More »
