About Me

Atlanta, Georgia, United States
My first book, "Invisible Sisters: A Memoir" has been named one of "Twenty Five Books All Georgians Should Read!" I would love to visit your bookclub, either in person (in the South) or through the magic of electronics. My writing has received a "Special Mention" for a 2008 Pushcart Prize. I have been honored with a residency at the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation in Bethany, CT., a Fellowship at the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts in Rabun Gap, Georgia, and the 2009 Peter Taylor Nonfiction Fellowship at the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. Locally, I teach workshops in creative writing, memoir, and feature journalism, and am a member of the faculty of an art college, where I teach screenwriting. I hold an MFA in Creative Writing from Queens University of Charlotte (N.C.) and a B.S. in Communication from Emerson College, in Boston. I used to work in television. I did not push the broom behind the elephant. Usually, I served as mahout - I drove the (allegorical) elephant. If he was SAG or AFTRA. Rock stars do not scare me.

Friday, January 29, 2010

Acting out, part II


Apparently I've moved from Tasmanian-devil speech to obtaining more fancy footwear . I continue to act out.

In the meantime, the three different classes I met with at Wingate University this week all knocked me out with their erudite, thoughtful questions, and their outstanding campus. (Dudes, that is one seriously nice theater y'all had me speak in on Monday night.)

We got to talk about adulthood and aging and how that plays out in my book - and my life, since my book is about my life. We talked about "on and off" time (I think I remember the phrase right) which is when you mature socially early in some things but not in others. Okay I married at 39, and now I understand why, psychologically.

We talked about imaginary friends for kids - good or bad? (Good.) We talked about how to talk to a child about death. We talked about research in writing nonfiction, about the use of the pronoun "I" and why it's hard to do at first. We talked about all kinds of things.

I had a blast. And I got to see old friends K, J, & A, and make new ones in L and MC!

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