“If you want to be happy, be.”      That line by the great Tolstoy intrigues me. It intrigues me, especially for all it doesn’t say.

Every artist joins a conversation

The natural warmth that emerges when we experience pain

Careful writers can tinker forever

A title is of practical use to an author.

As a young man, I was often told that I was a daydreamer

A Book is like a garden

“Do you ever get writer’s block?”

I can’t count the number of times I heard that question, mostly when standing before of a gym full of wiggly elementary students. 

I don’t have a contract …

simply to be here is so much and because what is here seems to need us,

There is only one thing to do.  Go into yourself. 

Recently I had the privilege of being interviewed by my friend, the exquisite writer, Uma Krishnaswami

Sometimes it is the artist’s task …

To love and be loved …

Numerous studies have found that when people feel a lack of control

When people confuse their beliefs with reality

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues

From the simplest lyric to the most complex novel, literature is asking us to pay attention.

If we can recognize that change and uncertainty are basic principles,

From the simplest lyric to the most complex novel, literature is asking us to pay attention.