Books & Culture Blog

In high school, I discovered Dorothy Parker: an acerbic, darkly witty writer of the Jazz Age. At 15, I thought she was great. All year, I...

After a spring blogging hiatus, which I do not at all blame on my kids' sports schedule, I am happy to be back with a just-published...

Are artists insufferable? And if so, why? As a writer slightly out-of-step with normal people, I’m glad somebody is pondering these...

When someone reviews our book, we writers have to play it cool. Here's G.K. Chesterton, kicking back in a lawn chair. Note his sober,...

Only eight more days until The City Mother is released! In the meantime, here's a blog post from March 2015, when I was starting to write...

What do the Italian Rennaissance painter Raphael and the 19th century American impressionist Mary Cassatt have to do with The City...

In late 2018, when I had a complete draft of The City Mother, I sent it to a novelist who worked as a fiction editor on the side. For a...

In this blog, I will post updates relating to my novel, The City Mother, which I’m excited to share. I’ll also post links to...