creativity

Creativity, Cancer, and the Circle of Quiet

I walked to the bench today after my MRI. My doctor ordered the test to see if I have pancreatic cancer, not because I have any symptoms or suspicion,

Why Museums Matter

I went to a museum yesterday. Last year, I went to so many museums that I lost track, haunting special archival collections to ferret out

Writing through Panic

Back in early March, before it felt like we were trapped in a lousy cinematic mashup of Chernobyl, Contagion, and Zombieland, I was on a writing

Is It Harder to Be a Novelist or a Screenwriter? (Plus a Brief Meditation on How Being a Writer Should be Like Smoking Cigars.)

Lately, my novelist friends and I have been talking about finding other jobs because the publishing business is so rocky. Usually this list of

Debut Author Virginia Franken Talks about Flawed Characters, Her (New) Addiction to Coffee, What Dance Taught Her about Writing, and More

In her entertaining debut novel, Life After Coffee, Virginia Franken offers us the story of coffee buyer Amy O'Hara, who has devoted so much time to

Where Fantasy and Reality Collide: One Novelist’s Happy Coincidences

I came downstairs just as my husband returned from our local liquor store, where he'd gone to buy wine for dinner. He brandished a bottle of rum at

Stranger than Fiction: Men in Kilts and Firemen on My Lawn

I live in a small town, in the sort of neighborhood with sidewalks and dog walkers and kids on bikes. In other words: not much happens. Then, a

I Wrote for 17 Minutes Yesterday!

Last weekend, I participated on two different author panels during the 2016 Newburyport Literary Festival, an event packed with

How One Coach Got Me Off the Couch—and Inspired My Writing

I'm the mother of three champion long distance runners. I honestly don't know how that happened, since I was never a runner. But I showed up at almost

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creativity