We’ve all come a long way from Kansas! Feminism in The Wizard of Oz

We’ve all watched the MGM film The Wizard of Oz from 1939. But did you know that the original novel, written fully 39 years earlier, contained ideas about femininity that were quite progressive at that time and still are today? The feminist tendencies of his novels do not come as such a big surprise if… Read More

The Writer’s Reality

Minnesota is soggy today. Rain pitter patters on the roof top and my cats sit on the windowsill watching the water dripping down. It is a quintessentially perfect day to get some writing done. Bring on the words! Oh, but wait! There is a week’s worth of laundry to do… And groceries to get… And… Read More

A ghost, a wife, a motel room: bring on the tears

Last week I clutched my iPad closely to my chest after reading the last words of “The Motel Room” by Alyssa Cooper. My eyes brimmed with tears, but I couldn’t let myself cry. It was a rainy day, and I was on the bus en route to one of my evening MBA classes. The atmosphere… Read More

Where do words go when they die?

This post started out as a lamentation on the pitfalls of the writing and critique process. I wrote four paragraphs and then deleted them just now. Oops, I just did it again. You will never see those paragraphs or those words. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Maybe they were bad paragraphs.… Read More