An Eccentric’s View of a Vacation

One thing we can all agree on: vacations are conventional. Everyone knows them, and everyone takes them, often to places that are especially designated as vacation destinations. Northern Europeans spend […]

The Open Wound: Questions about Timing in Writing about Loss

In writing about loss, one vexation, among many others, involves timing: when is it the right time to begin writing about what I have experienced? Obviously, the experience of loss […]

Let There Be Pheasants: On Writing Process as a Vacation

I’ve just begun a new writing project. The idea came from a poem I read a few years ago, and it grew as I wrote about it. It became exciting. […]

The Problem with the Structure Argument for the Five Paragraph Theme

I still have trouble believing that these arguments are still made. But since they are, here is one response. Defenders of the five paragraph theme mainly argue that it should […]

Are We Serious about Teaching Writing?

Recently, one of my creative writing students shared a great insight. She had been telling me that her peer group in the creative writing class was really good. They had […]