Author Archives: mabujones

A week ago, six intrepid writers braved a nor’easter to come and write with me. As each one bent over a keyboard or notebook, it took little time for their bodies to relax and the writing mind to be transported … Continue reading →

Someone once asked me: “Why write this?” They were pointing to a copy of a poem I had offered for review by the workshop. I froze. The question was a wall I could not surmount. As I drove home, I … Continue reading →

The silence that comes with days of more dark than light offers more than hibernation. I’ve learned to look for still moments in my life and try to translate them into my writing. So often, in stories, these moments are … Continue reading →

In the words of the apparently immortal Mick Jagger: “You can’t always get what you want.” We can sing along to this hard-earned wisdom, and, like so many life lessons, we can accept it or not. Turning the idea around, … Continue reading →

When writers ask me what form a piece of writing should take, I think of my distinguished journalism professor, Larry Pinkham, who spent eight years in Beijing establishing English-language journalism programs and two years in India as dean of the … Continue reading →

I have spent a lot of time in laundromats and find the sound and the warmth of those big machines very comforting. I have also discovered that my mind wanders wonderfully as shirts, sheets, socks swirled and spun. So I … Continue reading →

My neighbors to the east and west of me talk to me about chickens. Not the price of them or how many breeds there are. They talk about the sound of them and their eggs: “I love the soft sound … Continue reading →

When my Dad used to calls relatives, he’d ask, “Is this the party to whom I am speaking?” He was the grandson of a Vaudeville set builder, so slapstick and nonsense were in his DNA. I now say it to … Continue reading →

How do we learn the craft of writing? First, we learn it as we learn to speak in the music, rhythms and imagery of our first language. We learn it as we put our words on paper. We cannot write … Continue reading →

When we reread our own work, what are we reading? I recently had a conversation with a fellow writer in which they said: When I first wrote this, I didn’t like it, but now, a year later, I think it’s … Continue reading →