On this, International Women’s Day, let us pause for a moment of quiet celebration. Celebration that the women of the world are doing so very well. That the women of developed countries such as this, at any rate, earn as much as men for doing the same jobs. That half our elected officials. university professors,…

I love the idea of working on a book that’s just coming to life, yet due to be published in June. I remember reading in one of Vita Sackville-West’s diaries about how she finishes a book the first week of May one year, and in the middle of June–the same year, mind–she goes up to…

We writers live for the small rewards. It’s perfectly lovely, of course, to hit the New York Times list or win a prize or get a starred review from Publishers Weekly, but deep down, the thing that keeps a lot of us writing is internal. There’s a lovely old English word, “quick.” Nowadays we think…

(And if anyone can tell me how to make an accent mark on this text, I’d be grateful–the above is supposed to have one over the o, so it’s en espanol. And that could use a tilde, as well. Alas, I really should return to the stylus and clay tablet. Anyway…)** I love local newspapers.…

…in which we continue our tale of the downstairs neighbors. After having skunks spray in the house last January, I am, as you might expect, highly sensitized to their presence: one whiff, and all my panic alarms clang and hammer. So a few weeks ago when my ears and nose told me the black-and-white charmers…

Mephitis mephitis is God’e2’80’99s creature, too:a story in two parts For the third time in four years, this winter the King residence has been host to skunks. You know the skunk, don’t you? Mostly from the small dark heap by the side of the road that makes your eyes water for a mile or so.…

I was on a panel for the California Association of Teachers and Educators this week, with Gillian Roberts, Cara Black, and Nadia Gordon (plus various pseudonymous identities–seven writers for the price of four!) and one of the things that came up was censorship. Namely, a poor beleaguered teacher (not here in California) who is being…

First off, a comment to a comment. Andi my dear, I don’t believe I ever said that a book has to be either grim or heavy to be award-worthy. Indeed, if you look at the Best First list you’ll see that we as a committee didn’t, either. And I would not venture to say that…

So I’m lying on an hard table in the physiotherapist’s office the other day, where I ended up after wondering if we couldn’t do something about this arm ache that I’ve had for three years, and I’m thinking about voodoo. Because really, there’s not a lot to do in a physiotherapist’s office as you’re staring…

Well, the response unfortunately was gratifying, which means I feel obligated to push on with this peculiar form of communication. I have to apologize for past and future oddities, many of which are not my fault, honestly. I work from a Mac, and the Google people who own Blogger seem determined to drive us Macniacs…