Past Updates
New Years' Update
Do you do the resolution thing?
Annually, my list includes the all-capped MAKE BETTER USE OF TIME.
Maybe leaving out the "my" was a start – I scrawled the line all the more quickly by skipping a word - but I also already knew the time was my own. How much I have, though, is the big mystery, as it is for all of us. I tend to hope for the most time possible, but also try to live like I don't have a lot left. Cancer was a great kick in the rear, as were the too-soon deaths of several souls dear to me. What do I want to do with the time I have on this planet?
Writing more is one answer, and one key to that is rising earlier. At the January residency of the University of Maine's Stonecoast MFA program, I'll be introducing my multi-talented and multi-genred literary soul sister Elizabeth Searle before she reads from her amazing new novel, "Girl Held in Home." As I was writing the introduction I thought back to when I was revising "Sundays in America" and would wake at 4 a.m. or so in order to stay on schedule. I'd find Elizabeth online at the same time. And it wasn't because she, like me, had a deadline. That's just what she normally does, including in days that often include late nights at events. Maybe that's one reason she's got not only four books out there, but a film and a rock opera and a host of other fascinating projects. If you're lucky enough to hear short story writer Claire Keegan talk about her workday, you'll probably hear her mention waking around 5 and feeling she's done a great day's work by 10 a.m. The fabulous Wally Lamb wrote much of his dazzling debut novel "She's Come Undone" before starting his workday as a teacher. They're not making any more hours, it's key to MAKE BETTER USE of those we have.
If your resolutions include working on your writing, join me at any or all of the following events:
- Saturday, Jan. 28, from 1 to 3 p.m., at East Longmeadow Public Library, 60 Center Square, Mass., for "Create Your Story," a presentation that will provide information on and inspiration for writing the story of your dreams. I'll be joined by my personal writing hero, Tommy Shea, for this program, which is free and open to all ages. Snow date is Feb. 4.
- Saturday, Feb. 18, Writers' Day 5 at Bay Path College, 588 Longmeadow St., Longmeadow, Mass. I'll introduce talks by Peter Sarno, on electronic publishing; Shonna Milliken Humphrey, on self editing; Morgan Callan Rogers, on a first-time author's journey; and Elizabeth Searle, on starting a novel or short story, and sustaining a writer's life. For details and prices, contact Briana Sitler, Bay Path's director of special programs, at bsitler@baypath.edu.
- On Mar. 16 & 17, I'll be speaking and signing at Mystic Writers Retreat and Conference.
- This spring – dates to be announced – I'll be leading a series of free writing workshops for tornado survivors and others affected by the tornadoes of June 1, 2011, at Hitchcock Free Academy in Brimfield.
- Also this spring – also at dates to be announced – I'll be leading another four-night series of writing workshops at Bay Path College. If you're interested in more information, contact Briana Sitler, at bsitler@baypath.edu.
I continue to teach at Bay Path College, where I am writer in residence, and at the Stonecoast MFA program, where I teach fiction, nonfiction and popular fiction. I also continue to mentor private students, so if you're working on anything from a 30-word piece of flash fiction to a lengthy memoir, let's talk.
As for my own work, I have been charging along on finishing "This is Paradise," the story of Ireland's Mags Riordan and the Malawian clinic she founded in memory of her son. 
I hope to complete the manuscript by the end of the spring. I'm also a few chapters into a new novel, and have been continuing to write for www.obit-mag.com. I also recently had an essay in The Republican newspaper, the Springfield-Mass. incarnation of the daily at which I first worked fulltime starting two days after college graduation. The piece is about the branches I assembled into my Christmas tree for 2011 as I looked back on what was a pretty horrific weather year locally.
I've also started tweeting, and am so new to it that I'm not really sure what address to give you, but it looks like sess7. I do know my way to my mentor Elinor Lipman's tweets, which are poems she's writing daily through the next presidential election. Don't miss them, or this impressive exercise in keeping on top of the latest political news, and making art of it day after day.
Both Tommy and I are grateful for the warm hospitality enjoyed during our time in Lynchburg, Virginia, where I spent a month this fall as a visiting writer at magical Randolph College and Tommy made fast friends in the classes he visited. Thanks again to Bunny Goodjohn for the invitation in the first place, and to the rest of the English faculty at Randolph, including Jim Peterson, Laura-Gray Street, Mara Amster, and Heidi Kunz. And thanks, too, to the hardworking and gifted students with whom we met. A special shout out to the fine folks in the dining hall, we are still dreaming of the selection, including pumpkin ice cream...
With all best wishes for 2012, and a big MAKE BETTER USE to you,
Suzanne