Note: I wrote this in October, 2020, but I got busy, never quite finished the post, and didn’t publish it. I’m publishing it now, from home in California, as I look back on those last months in Paris during the pandemic.

It’s hard to believe we are now in month nine of the pandemic. While Paris is quieter than usual, carousels are running, residential neighborhoods are bustling, and many restaurants are crowded (unfortunately) during lunch hour. …

Lately, I’ve been drawn to personal narratives — particularly memoirs of the writing life. I keep coming back to books that are not about writing so much as about the daily experience of being a writer, the act of making one’s way through everyday existence (children, roof leaks, marriage, moving) while attempting to inhabit a life of the mind.

When my writing comes to a halt, personal narratives by writers help me get back to that coveted interiority, the quiet brain space necessary for the act of making something. …

Learn your craft, grow as a writer, and finally get your novel on the page.

In Novel in Nine, you will write 2,000–2,500 words per week. You will make steady progress and complete a solid draft of your novel or memoir in nine months. Practical, inspiring lessons and assignments will help you build your novel or memoir scene by scene, character by character, chapter by chapter.

Novel in Nine is perfect for self-motivated writers who want to work through a series of progressive lessons and assignments over the course of a year. …

“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.”

― Lao Tzu

When I surveyed writers last year, 39% said the biggest thing stopping them from writing was finding the time.

Your days are packed, your schedule is busy, people want and need things from you. That is true today, it was true yesterday, and it will be true tomorrow.

Your circumstances may change, becoming “easier” or “more difficult,” but it is unlikely that vast amounts of unused time will suddenly open up.

There are 1,140 minutes in a day. The…

Mel went down to the docks alone and hired a fishing boat, took it out all by herself. She brought with her a plentiful supply of fresh water, not knowing how long she’d be out. Given her track record, she figured it might be a while. She sat on the boat with the fishing pole in hand, staying hydrated, watching the sun dance on the sea’s glassy calm. It was so quiet out there on the water, peace and awe flooding in around her. …

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

― Lao Tzu

Maybe you think it’s too difficult to begin writing. The truth is, starting to write is no more difficult than taking one step. When you were a baby, before you learned to walk, that single step seemed so daunting. And yet, somehow, you did it. Somehow you got up on your wobbly legs and took your first step.

Doing so took a lot of faith. In your developing brain, you assessed the risks — you might fall — and you took the step anyway. In the…

No one really noticed the newcomer. Mrs. Haggerty arrived during the doxology. She covered her cough with her palm, wishing her bunions would quiet down. She extended a friendly handshake to Mrs. Lane in the foyer, before accompanying the newcomer down the aisle. She bent over to rub her right foot before entering the pew.

Mr. Brown leaned into the last phrase. “Praise Father, Son and Heavenly Ghost.” He breathed in, replenishing his spent air, issuing a hello as he pushed himself a bit closer to the youngest Galanos daughter to make way for Mrs. Haggerty and the newcomer. The…

Many writers test the waters of fiction with the short story form before moving on to writing a novel. MFA programs usually immerse writers in the craft of short fiction, so that candidates emerge from the program with a completed short story collection and many hours of short fiction workshops under their belts, but no idea how to write a novel.

As with most of the writers in my MFA program, I wrote short stories all though my MFA years. When I got out of graduate school, I wanted to write a novel but I had no idea how to…