I have an odd phobia around my writing: I don't like to show it to people I know. I think this has always been true, but one incident that stands out in my mind took place in a college fiction writing class, for which I wrote a short story. It was about a young woman … Continue reading The Kindness of Strangers

This afternoon, I was chatting with my parents about the state of my daughter's spelling. She is seven years old, and is a pretty crackerjack speller for her age. My father, bemoaning his own spelling, says she's learned rules in school he never learned. I pointed out that my daughter has a fabulous memory; and … Continue reading The Rules

...or, Why Lizmonster Hasn't Been Writing. It's not because I haven't had anything to say. I have more stuff rolling around in my head than I know what to do with. That's the wonderful thing about being a writer: No matter what happens, good or bad, it's story material. And when I'm really stressed out, … Continue reading Life Intervenes

"Catastrophic Hard Disk Failure." On Saturday, I came home from the morning errands to find my laptop frozen. No mouse movement, no Cmd-Q to Quit - basically, she was unresponsive. I suppose this should have fazed me - but it didn't. I've been working with computers in one capacity or another for 33 years. These … Continue reading Four Words No Novelist Wants To Hear