I RECENTLY RE-WATCHED Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman’s 2010 TED talk on “The Riddle of Experience vs. Memory,” which is about the difference between what he calls the “experiencing self” (that part of us that experiences life moment by moment) and the “memory self” (that part of us that remembers our […]
DO YOU STRUGGLE with writing dialogue? If so, you’re not alone. Writing dialogue that feels natural and moves the story forward has always been a challenge for me. For that reason, I’ve had to study dialogue — what makes it good (effective) and what makes it bad (ineffective). – Before […]
Do you write memoir or use real events and people as models for fiction? If so, using your writing journal to flesh-out your characters can do more than help you create well-rounded characters on the page; it can also enhance your powers of observation and improve your descriptive writing skills. […]
When we write about our lives, we are not simply recording events: we are telling stories. And when we write those stories for others to read, we hope to engage our readers by sharing our life experiences in such a way that it affects them emotionally, makes them think about […]
What’s the first thing you remember? Do you wonder, Why do I remember that event, out of all the possible events in my early life? In my first memory, I am in a strange bedroom with sleek, blonde furniture instead of the familiar, warm cherry bedroom set my parents own. […]
HAVING JUST RETURNED from my oldest son’s wedding in Florida, I’ve been thinking a lot about family this week. Images of the bride’s family and of mine keep flashing through my mind—a grand mix of ethnicity, language, and age. Traditional images of family are turned upside-down when our children and […]
