Making 'Baby Grand,' the Novel

Yesterday, I ended the day with my manuscript being 3 pages shorter than it was the day before. Characters and scenes I had carefully constructed were wiped away with one hit of the delete button, since they no longer fit into the overall story, which, as you know, I have laid out, chapter by chapter. [...]

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A friend of mine told me once that she believed that people are “born readers.” Either you like to, or you don’t. I disagree. Right before my eyes, I’ve seen a young boy — Griffin, my oldest son — who “hated” reading be completely transformed into a book-a-week kid, thanks in large part to J.K. [...]

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Another quick vocabulary lesson. You’d be surprised how many people, professional writers included, mix these up. “Principal” and “principle.” “Principal” means head or chief (like of a company or school), while “principle” is a basic truth or tenet. “Complement” and “compliment.” Unless you’re giving away free stuff or telling someone how nice she looks today, [...]

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Woke up feeling a bit anxious today. After an inspiring reading yesterday from John McPhee, I managed to come home and do absolutely no writing on Baby Grand. And today is jam-packed with activities, including a jaunt into Manhattan to see Mary Poppins on Broadway with my daughter,  which means I’ll probably come home spent. [...]

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This morning, I attended a reading at Hofstra University by John McPhee, who has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1965. McPhee is the author of 28 books, all published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Encounters with the Archdruid and The Curve of Binding Energy were nominated for National Book Awards, and [...]

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The other night, my seven-year-old son Jack came home with an ELA assignment to write a poem. “Try to use a metaphor,” the directions said. “What’s a metaphor?” he asked me. Apparently, he had zoned off during that classroom discussion. “Well, what do you want to write about?” I asked him. He said, “I want [...]

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Yesterday, I mapped out the entire novel. Thank God! Yes, there are still tons of holes that need to be filled, but the basic blueprint is there. I’m not naive enough to think that scenes won’t change. I’ve written enough feature articles and creative non-fiction to know that sentences and sentiments change right up until [...]

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Generally, I’m not a big fan of epilogues. I like my novels to end neat and tidy, without having to get into the eventual fates of the characters. I guess, in other words, I like the “here and now” of reading, of feeling the experiences as they happen. Reading an epilogue often feels kinda like [...]

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