I’ve finally figured it out! There are two signs on each car I drive seen only by Special Drivers. (Special, of course, meaning unusual, distinct, specific and obviously run-of-the-mill.) I’m sure the sign on the front bumper says, “Pull immediately in front of me, proceed really, really slowly, and then wash your windshield.” The sign…
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The Subtle Art of Similes and Metaphors
We’ve all read them—those little would-be jewels of description that make us pause, furrow our brow, and say “Huh?” We’ve all been guilty of them, too, especially in the early stages of our writing careers. They’re bad similes and metaphors, and they stick out from a manuscript like a sore thumb—but it can be difficult…
Why I Belong
Belonging has always been hard for me. I’m not a team player. In high school, when phys-ed was a team sport like softball, I asked to run the track instead. Yes, I was happier running laps alone for 50 minutes than playing with a group. My best sport was, unsurprisingly, track and field. Sprints. I…
I could hardly breathe, listening to Yunike’s story.
Our kids were playing marbles in the dirt road outside of her Borneo home. The electricity had been off in my friend’s neighborhood for hours. The stifling air added to her story, the heaviness of the moment turning into sweat running down my face. Yunike Hermanus, my Indonesian friend, was telling a part in her…
Finding the Courage to Walk Away
“Sometimes, the thing you most wish for is not to be touched.” The quote above comes from the musical Into the Woods and offers a caution that doesn’t apply only to fairy tales . . . it’s important advice for publishing too. It took me ten years, and five full-length manuscripts, to find an agent (and get…