The lesson? That structure is a beautiful thing. A necessary thing. Structure. It sounds so hard and counterintuitive to the soft swirly world of creativity. But structure is the container that holds and shapes your ideas, giving them space to materialize instead of just floating in your head. When I first started my daughter’s collage, I had infinite possibilities which sounds rather freeing but, in fact, it can be just the opposite. Too much freedom can leave me flailing. Once I had a color palette, that became my structure and I began to see my materials through the prism of that structure. Just as children need boundaries, so does our writer/artist. The trick is finding the appropriate structure for each project whether it’s a color palette, a certain image or material or technique. For writing it could be a genre, word count, prompt, timeframe, the use of chapters or not. One teacher had us write a story using the each letter of the alphabet, in order, to start each sentence. Talk about a structure! The point is, structure, while it sounds like it should be confining is actually freeing.

Let me know how structure figures into your own work. I’d love to hear from you.

Oh, and here’s the finished piece:

Here’s a peek:

Cover for my 2012 Art Journal

First Spread: Action

My word for this year is “Action.” Big steps, little steps, miniscule (or micro, as Sark calls them) steps. Anything that keeps me moving forward. Which means I need to get comfortable with not knowing what’s next and with imperfection.

How about you? What is your relationship to resolutions? Do you make them? Share them? If so, feel free to comment them below. I’d love to hear from you.

I wish all of you a new year filled with the creative actions that create the momentum to make all of your dreams come true.

Happy New Year!!

The night before junior year – I was sixteen, barely– Gable Arsley said he wanted to sleep with me.

I’ve loved all of Zevin’s novels and this one didn’t disappoint. It’s set in a future NYC where chocolate and caffeine are illegal. And if you’ve followed this blog at all you know that those future type novels completely intrigue me. In addition, paper is scarce, water rare and crime has risen along with poverty. Anya is the daughter of the city’s most notorious crime boss who was killed in their home. She lives with her dying grandmother, younger sister and older brother who suffered a severe head injury that left him unable to be the caregiver, a job that Anya has stepped into and takes very seriously. This story has a little bit of everything including an engaging narrator, a love story and a mystery not to mention the details of a world set far in the future but which Zevin makes feel entirely too plausible.

What I learned: That what really draws me into a story is the voice of the narrator.

 “History of a Suicide – My Sister’s unfinished Life” a memoir by Jill Bialosky

On a cold day in the autumn of 1998, eight years after my sister died, I went back to Cleveland to visit her grave with my husband, David.

Let me start by saying how disconcerting it was to read about a woman with my name who committed suicide. Once I got past that, I really couldn’t put it down even though it was very hard to read at times given that I am so close to my own sisters. Bialosky does an amazing job of not only revealing her own story map of grief, but she also lovingly yet realistically  reveals her sister through memory and bits of her sister’s journal as well as documents from the police.

My favorite line:

Formulating our own words about our lives translates our interior hieroglyphics into the stories we tell ourselves to make events from our pasts more understandable, give them shape and meaning, organize the chaos of the unconscious where we most often dwell.

What I learned: That the above quote articulates why I write much more eloquently than I have ever been able to write myself, which is one of the reasons I love to read.

“Turn of Mind” a novel by Alice LaPlante

Something has happened.

This book… all I can say is “Wow.” Seriously. I think I even said the word ”wow” out loud as I closed the book. I don’t know how she did it. She gets so deep into the fractured mind of Dr. Jennifer White, a widow, mother and retired surgeon, that I felt I had a glimpse of what it must be like to live with Alzheimer’s. The story is told completely through the prism of what she knows, what she remembers and what she forgets. It’s just an amazing story.

What I learned: That pure beauty can emerge when you write so close within the mind of your character.

“What Alice Forgot” a novel by Liane Moriarty

She was floating, arms outstretched, water lapping her body, breathing in a summery fragrance of slat and coconut.

Alice wakes up on the floor of her gym after hitting her head and believes it is ten years earlier. She believes she is pregnant with their first child, that she is twenty-nine and blissfully married to Nick. In reality, Alice is thirty-nine, has three children and her marriage is anything but blissful. The novel explores the myth of who we are and who we think we are and who others think we are. It really made me think about how we change, especially within the context of our most intimate relationships and how a slightly different perspective can make all the difference in how we behave and how we feel.

What I learned: This story reiterated my fascination with any story that involves lifting yourself out of the story of your life and seeing it differently whether that involves any kind of time travel or memory travel.

“State of Wonder” a novel by Ann Patchett

The news of Anders Eckman’s death came by way of Aerogram, a piece of bright blue airmail paper that served as both the stationary and, when folded over and sealed along the edges, the envelope.

I just finished reading this and all I can say (again) is  ”Wow.” I feel like I am emerging from the dark heart of the Amazon jungle, squinting my eyes at the brightness of the world around me. The story pulls you in deeper and deeper with every page, deeper in the histories of the characters, their relationships, their decisions and the consequences of those decisions, not to mention deeper into the lush and dangerous landscape of the jungle. The novel is a great escape but not in a mindless way. No, there is much to think about as Patchett covers everything from cannibalism to big pharma, from medical ethics to poisoned arrows.

What I learned: How essential place can be to the heart of a story.

“My American Unhappiness” a novel by Dean Bakapolous

Nine years ago, in the summer of 1999, I was hired to be the director of the great Midwestern Humanities Initiative (GMHI), a federally funded program designed “to foster a greater sense of community, increase public literacy, and strengthen levels of civic engagement in the American heartland.”

Zeke Pappas is determined to find a wife this year in order to keep his two orphaned nieces with him. The problem is that he isn’t exactly dating anyone at the moment. Desperate he turns to a women’s magazine article and lines up four “prospects”: his separated next door neighbor, his longtime assistant, a barista at the local Starbucks and Sophia Coppola who he is sure will be just as enamored of his project chronicling the unhappiness of ordinary Americans as he is. Zeke is one of the most engaging, charmingly unreliable narrators I’ve come across. Watching his life unfold based on bad choice after bad choice is akin to watching a train wreck, you are both mesmerized and horrified. I, for one, could not stop reading this story that balances cynicism with hope.

What I learned: How important it is that your character wants something desperately.

“The Secret Lives of Wives- Women Share What it Really Takes to Stay Married” by Iris Krasnow

“Who needs marriage?” screams a scary headline in two-inch red letters on the cover of a recent Time magazine.

Apparently most of us do. According to Krasnow close to ninety percent of Americans will get married at some point. But getting married and staying married are two completely different things. This book is all about the latter. Krasnow spent several years interviewing women who have been married for twenty years or more, exploring what makes a marriage tick. The answer? Well, it’s different for everyone. No two marriages are alike and you never ever know what really goes on between two people as some of the stories in this book show. Every married woman should read this book and then give it to their daughters.

What I learned: The trick to staying married is not getting divorced and the key to not getting divorced is not depending on your husband for your own happiness.

2. New hope for self-publishing?

3. Do you remember the day you discovered you were a writer? David Ebenbach does.

4. Sigh… I wish could go here.

5. I heart Diablo Cody and can’t wait to see her new movie “Young Adult”.

Laurie Garvey hadn’t been raised to believe in the Rapture. She hadn’t been raised to believe in much of anything, except the foolishness of belief itself.

What happens when neighbors, classmates, wives, husbands, children, celebrities simply vanish one day? October 14 to be exact. This Rapture-like event is dubbed the “Sudden Departure” The novel focuses on the small town of Mapleton and its residents who choose to either go on with their lives in this new world, or change the world or demonize those who were taken in an attempt to prove that it wasn’t the Rapture. It’s an amazing premise that Perrotta bring to life, making it seem entirely plausible.

What I learned: that any premise can be portrayed as plausible if you focus on the characters and their inner lives.

 “In Zanesville” a novel by Jo Ann Beard

We can’t believe the house is on fire.

With that first line, this novel’s fourteen-year-old narrator hooked me. Set in a small Midwestern town in the 1970’s, “In Zanesville” explores that precarious moment in adolescence and friendship when everything tips and suddenly the balance of everything is in question. I loved how the novel is strung like a strand of beads, each scene beautiful and marred, funny and heartbreaking.

What I learned: That I absolutely love a good strong adolescent voice.

“Paper Covers Rock” a YA novel by Jenny Hubbard

When my dad gave me this journal two years ago and said “Fill it with your impressions,” I imagine he had a more idyllic portrait of boarding school life in mind.

After lying about details of an accident in which a fellow classmate dies, Alex seeks refuge in a journal inspired by “Moby Dick.” The first entry is titled “Call Me Is Male.” Glenn, also a witness to the accident and one of the more popular boys at boarding school, aligns himself with Alex, convinced that someone else was at the river that day. When the young female English teacher takes a special interest in Alex’s writing, recognizing his talent as well as the pain or guilt driving it, Glenn is sure that she knows more about the accident than she’s let on and is trying to trap the boys. The voice hooked me from the first sentence as well as the literary references and the story kept me turning the pages until I finished the book in about a day.

What I learned: That a unique structure adds depth to the story.

“Long drive Home” a novel by Will Allison

Dear Sara,

It’s hard for me to imagine the person you’ll be when you read this – probably on your way to college and a life of your own.

This story was hard to read because it hits at one of my big fears- those split-second decisions that people make that end in tragedy. Glen Bauer is driving his daughter home when he encounters a reckless driver. In an instant he decides to jerk the wheel, intending to scare him but what happens is much worse. In another impulsive act, Glen chooses to lie about what actually happened, to the police, his daughter, his wife. Woven throughout the story is a letter he writes to his daughter, for her to read when she is older, trying to tell the truth to her, a confession of sorts.

What I learned: That whatever emotion is buried within the character guides the plot since it guides his actions. So it’s essential as a writer to know what deep feelings your character harbors.

“Forgotten” a YA novel by Cat Patrick

Aren’t Fridays supposed to be good?

London Lane is a sixteen-year-old high school student whose memory is erased every night. She wakes up not knowing what happened the day before and relies on lists she makes before going to sleep, reminding her of what she wore to school, what homework she has and what social interactions she needs to be aware of. Not only does she not remember her past, but she has flashes of her future and those around her. Her mother and best friend are the only people who know her secret. London has set up a structure that works for her, but when a new boy starts at her school, things get complicated. Could not put this book down. Pretty sure I devoured it in one day. My kids think I’m crazy.

 What I learned: how much I adore a quirky premise made plausible, in this case the idea of remembering the future but not the past.

“Displacement” a YA novel by Thalia Chaltas

Miracle Whip on white,

American cheese,

A crunchy tomato slab.

The desert’s veggie sandwich.

Eager to shed the life she left behind, Vera finds herself in a tiny, out of the way mining desert town with an eclectic group of neighbors. She finds a job, a house to live in but is unable to find peace as she realizes that her memories followed her out into the desert. Told in an amazing series of prose poems in Vera’s completely engaging voice, the story is both deeply felt and heartbreaking. Another one that I couldn’t put down. Read it in less than a day.

What I learned: Because of the prose poem structure, I noticed how every single word matters and how the breaking down of those sentences matters just as much.

“Jumping Off Swings” a YA novel by Jo Knowles

I can still feel a trace of his warm lips against mine as he slips away from me and fumbles for the door to his father’s van.

Ellie yearns for a real boyfriend, and each time she hooks up with a boy she is sure it will different. Well, this time it is different. Not the boy, but the consequence. She ends up pregnant. Told in alternating points of view between, Ellie; the boy, Josh; her best friend Corrine and Josh’s friend, Caleb we see how a teen pregnancy not only effects the two teens and their families but also their friends. It is a compelling look at teenage sexuality and pregnancy, one that compelled me to keep turning the pages.

What I learned: That such a universal story needs to be grounded in details of actual characters.

“Turn- The Journal of an Artist” by Anne Truitt

Our rented holiday cottage sits lightly on sand, from which harsh grasses stick up raggedly and prick our bare feet.

While working in a hospital in clinical psychology, Truitt enrolled in a night class to study sculpture. It was her first experience with visual art and it fit her. Instead of furthering her career in medicine, she pursued a life in art. Gutsy,yes? I picked up her first journal years, (perhaps even decades?) ago.  In this journal she is coming to terms with old age and the limitations as well as freedom that it brings. Her children are grown and thus their relationship must grow as well. She details her days and the world and people around her with a careful eye, delving into the sensuousness of the world but also digging deeper into her own creative process. She reminds of a cross between May Sarton and Vivian Swift (minus the charming illustrations) both of whom I also highly recommend.

What I learned: That the tension required for creative work is similar no matter what the form. Writing of a sculpture in process: “”The large sculpture I am working on is at once strange to me because I do not know its heart, except as a tremble in my own, and familiar because it looks to me like mine. As I work on it, I scarcely dare breathe lest the tension between me and it will break.” I feel that same way with writing a new story, the difference is that it tends to scare me away whereas she seems to embrace it as an inevitable part of the process.

“Bill Moyers Journal- the Conversation Continues” by Bill Moyers

As the French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville came off the boat in New York in 1831 to begin his famous tour of the fledgling America, he was greeted with tumult.

Through a series of engaging and though-provoking interviews with some of the greatest thinkers of our time, Bill Moyers explores the current tumult we find ourselves in the middle of. He speaks with a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, political views including Jon Stewart, Karen Armstrong, Jane Goodall and a host of others. The interviews covered everything from politics to poetry, from healthcare to race and they opened my mind to new ideas. At times it was overwhelming to read of all the tough, tough issues we face that seem, at times, insurmountable. But then you read of people who are making a difference and that feeling of being overwhelmed gives way to hope which is exactly what we need. Hope that leads to action that makes a difference.

What I learned: That to address any problem nationwide means that the first issue that needs to be fixed is getting big money out of politics.

“Neighborhood Watch” a novel by Cammie McGovern

Violence in the suburbs is not accompanied by the sounds we associate it within cities.

Betsy Treading, a librarian, is released from prison after serving twelve years when DNA proof reveals that she could not have been the one to bludgeon her neighbor to death. Betsy returns to her old neighborhood wanting to not only create a life for herself but to also uncover the truth of who killed Linda Sue Murphy. We meet the odd assortment of neighbors, one of whom  may hold the key to unlocking the mystery of that night, a night that is clouded by Betsy’s unreliable memory.

 What I learned: That it is important in plot to raise as many questions as you answer as the narrative unfolds.

“Where She Went” a YA novel by Gayle Foreman

Every morning I wake up and I tell myself this: It’s just one day, one twenty-four hour period to get yourself through.

If you haven’t read Foreman’s “If I Stay” I have two things to say: 1. Go read it. and 2. Spoiler alert ahead.

Okay, so “Where She Went” picks up after ‘If I Stay Ends.”  It tells the story from Adam’s point of view three years after his girlfriend Mia barely survived a car crash that killed the rest of her family. The first novel was much more ephemeral as it took place from the point of view of Mia in a coma, straddling two worlds while she decided if she should stay or not.  She decided to stay and now we hear from her boyfriend Adam who is now a rock star, pretty disillusioned with fame and the whole business of music. He runs into Mia who is still playing the cello with the same passion he remembered and they spend a brief day together, attempting to piece together their past and perhaps, their future.

What I learned: That weaving snippets of lyrics can really reveal a character and would be quite fun to write.

“The Twelfth Insight” a novel by James Redfield

I turned onto the freeway and hit cruise control, trying to ease up a bit.

Told in the form of a modern parable, Redfield  brings his unique spiritual perspective to the areas of political corruption, financial instability and global religious tensions. Sound familiar? I think that’s why I was drawn to it when I saw it on the new-books shelf at the library. I had read his earlier works but nothing recent.  The key to moving beyond our current conflicts lies in the power of synchronicity and aligning ourselves with our spiritual purpose. It is fiction but the issues are real and he believes his solutions to those conflicts are real. At times it felt a little too New Agey for me but I certainly admire his passion in getting out the message he believes will help  our world.

What I learned: That it is essential to write from your passion.

“The Uncoupling” a novel by Meg Wolitzer

People like to warn you that by the time you reach the middle of your life, passion will begin to feel like a meal eaten long ago, which you remember with great tenderness.

A new drama teacher arrives and chooses to produce “Lysistrata” for the school play, a comedy in which women stop having sex with men in order to end a war. This sets in motion an odd spell that seems to envelop the town, affecting both students and adults. We are offered rare glimpses into the inner workings of relationships before the spell then afterwards as girls and women turn away from their men.  It was really spellbinding read, which seems appropriate.

 What I learned: That it would be an interesting exercise to take an old play or story and find a way to bring it into the modern world as Wolitzer did. It seemed as though she had great fun writing it.

“One Hundred Names for Love- A Stroke, A Marriage, and the Language of Healing” by Diane Ackerman

 Trailing plastic tubes, Paul made his way across the room, steeped in twilight, and I was struck by how the body sometimes looks like the sea creature it is, a jellyfish with long tentacles, not really a fish at all but a gelatinous animal full of hidden symmetries, as well as lagoons and sewers, and lots of spongy and stringy bits.

I loved loved loved this book. Her writing is just exquisite.  It’s a love story on so many levels: between husband and wife; caregiver and patient; between language and a debilitating stroke; between creativity and passion. After a devastating stroke that destroys his language centers (unthinkable to a writer and his writer wife) Diane Ackerman and Paul West embark on a journey of healing. Branching away from conventional therapy, Ackerman designs a program that involves flooding her husband with language for many, many hours a day, even if it’s just having long conversations while floating in a pool. When she asks him if he is interested in writing the first aphasiac novel or memoir, she sees a light in his eyes again. The results are astounding and should give hope to stroke patients and their caregivers everywhere.

What I learned: That having a passion for something, anything is crucial to living a full life and critical for healing a broken one whether broken from a physical ailment or an emotional one.

 “This Beautiful Life” a novel by Helen Schulman

Her mouth filled the screen. Purple lip gloss, clear braces.

In this age of instant technology, every parent and teen and pre-teen should read this book. After fifteen-year-old Jake is sent an unsolicited, sexually explicit video from a local girl. he forwards it to his best friend. Soon it is splashed across the web, around the world. What should the consequences be and for whom? The girl who made and sent it? Or the boy who forwarded it? or the many people who took it from there? The novel raises issues of privacy, ethics, morals and parenting in the modern age. Couldn’t put it down.

What I learned: Schulman does a great job of weaving in currents scenes with the thoughts of the characters. We get to know each one deeply through both their thoughts and actions.

“Fiction Ruined My Family” a memoir by Jeanne Darst

Writers talk a lot about how tough they have it – what with the excessive drinking and three-hour workday and philandering and constant borrowing of money from people they-re so much better than.

Darst is the youngest of four girls. Their mother is an alcoholic-depressive and their dad is an alcoholic- wanna-be –writer. Darst seems to be the only one of her siblings to inherit the drinking problem as well as the writing one. She struggles with both, wondering if you can have one without the other. The writing is honest and, at times, laugh out loud funny.

What I learned: That it is possible to portray family with humor and honesty, revealing both their beauty and flaws if viewed through the prism of compassion.

- Breand Ueland

I adore Brenda Ueland. Her book, If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit , helped prop me up when I was just beginning to write, still wobbly with all I did not know. But this partular quote… I don’t know if I completely agree. Writing is hard. Isn’t it? At least parts of it are hard. Otherwise there wouldn’t be so many books on writer’s block. You don’t hear of surgeon’s block or mother’s block. No.They have a job and they do it. But writing, Writing is different. Isn’t it? I don’t know. Maybe she is right. Maybe what’s hard is exactly what she says at the end. Maybe I am making it hard with my “anxious vanity and fear of failure.” That is not out of the realm of possibility. I have been known to mess with my own mind before. Maybe it’s time to put the fun back in writing. Curiosity. Or zest as Ray Bradbury suggests. There are certainly worse qualities to bring to the page.

1. I’m a book junkie. It’s true. We are actually running out of space for my books. I covet truly inspired bookshelves. My dream is to have floor-to-ceiling shelves in at least one room.

2. My favorite dinner to get at a restaurant is crabcakes.

3. I love the smell of coffee but not so much the taste. The only time I drink it is after a lovely meal with dessert (preferably chocolate).

4. I’ve always wanted to be the kind of person who really gets into Halloween. Those people always seem like so much fun. I just need to loosen up and not be afraid of looking silly. After all, it’s just Halloween.

5. Left on my own, I’d naturally sleep about nine hours.

6. I’m finding it hard to fathom that I have two girls in high school this year.

7. I actually enjoy solving algebra equations. Weird, I know…

And here are the fifteen recently discovered blogs:

1. Catching Days

2. The World Crafter’s Inkspot

3. Fi’s Magical Writing Haven

4. The View from My Mountaintop

5. Writer Musings

6. The Ole Master Plan

7. A Day Without Sushi

8. One Sister’s Rant

9. This Is Not a Mommy Blog

10. Carpe Keyboard

11. Dawn Brazil’s Brilliant Babbles About Books

12. Seeking the Write Life

13. Bookstack

14. scribbleflowers

15. Business and Creative Womens Forum

Every brain has a story and this is mine.

This is the second time I have read this amazing book. This time I kept a pen with me to underline and mark as I read. I’ve always said that if  I could have another path or a do-over, I would want to go into brain science. The brain is absolutely fascinating and after reading this book I find it even more compelling. Taylor, a brain scientist, has a stroke at the age of 37. Because of her expertise she views her stroke through the prism of not only the patient but the scientist giving us an amazing full picture of what she and brain endured the morning of the stroke and the years afterward. The first couple of chapters delve into the simple science of the brain. If that doesn’t engage you, do not let it stop you from skipping ahead and reading this book. It is well worth it. She combines science with her personal experience as a stroke survivor and glimpses into a particular inner peace or bliss she experienced and how we can all access that part of our brains without having to endure the tragedy of a stroke.

What I learned: That the plasticity of the brain is astounding and that you can re-learn and learn new skills eight years after a stroke.

 “The Architecture of the Novel” by Jane Vandenburgh

The joke in my family is that on any car ride through even the most implausible town or countryside, I’ve always felt the need to stop the car.

With a forward by Anne Lamott, how could I not read this book? It is divided into two parts. Part One delves into plot (or what she also refers to as Architecture), story, and narrative time. Part Two is a glossary of “the tools and concepts I’ve found useful and necessary in thinking about the longer narrative”. I underlined something on the majority of pages. This is not a quick fix writing book. She manages to reveal the mysteries of the novel writing process while still acknowledging the mystery. Her advice manages to be both intuitive (“You allow the scenes from your story, the story that has been bumping you and nudging against you as if it’s emerging out of darkness, to itself begin to control the writing process.”)  as well as pragmatic (“What it means is you need to go find your characters in their next active situation.”).

 What I learned: That the story you are writing is your best teacher.

 “I Remember Nothing and Other Reflections” by Nora Ephron

I have been forgetting things for years – at least since I was in my thirties.

She is funny. That’s a fact. Funny and insightful which is a charming combination. I laughed out loud so many times but couldn’t underline anything as it was a library copy.  But here are a few of my faves:

“…it’s so easy to tell people they have spinach in their teeth. All you have to do is say, ‘You have spinach in your teeth.’”

Some of her “Twenty-five things People Have a Shocking Capacity to be Surprised by Over and Over Again:

Almost all books that are published as memoirs were initially written as novels, and then the agent/editor said, This might work better as a memoir.

There is no explaining the stock market but people try.

You can never know the truth of anyone’s marriage, including your own.”

You’ll just have to go out and read it yourself. Really. Go. Now.

What I Learned: That she almost gave up writing one of my favorite movies. No, I am not going to tell you what it is. Go read the book:)

“The Emperor’s Children” a novel by Claire Messud

Darling! Welcome! And you must be Danielle?

I haven’t sunk into a thick novel, losing myself in its characters and their stories in a while. I did with this one. At the heart of the novel are three friends from Brown (Marina, Danielle and Julius) who have stayed close as they hit their thirties, each still finding and creating a path for the kind of life they envision for themselves. The chapters alternate between the friends’ points-of-view as well as that of Marina’s famous journalist father, Murray and his nephew, Frederick “Bootie” Tubb, who enters their lives unexpectedly and whose decisions alter the trajectory of their evolving paths. The backdrop is New York City in the months leading up to September 11 and the aftermath. I was completely absorbed in their stories. They intersected beautifully, each causing ripples in the others’ lives.

 What I learned: The necessity of cause and effect. A character makes this decision then this happens, over and over again in the case of a novel.

“I Knew You’d Be Lovely” stories by Alethea Black

Earlier that evening, under the pale streetlamps, Bradley had sat on a park bench and watched a row of trees carefully gathering snow.

I knew that this collection would be lovely and I was right. The stories are also smart with an edge. They are exactly the kind of stories I hope to write, that I hope I am writing. She manipulates time beautifully, leaving the stories rich and with the depth of a novel at times.  At the end of the collection she writes a brief background on the writing of each story, revealing where the idea come from, how long it took to write, what, if anything, came from real life. I love getting a peek behind the curtain like that. Now I will patiently (or not so patiently) wait for her next book. Meanwhile, this one will live on  my permanent bookshelf.

What I learned: That an incredibly brief line that nods to the future can add such depth to a short story.