Have you ever heard someone say, after a traumatic or startling event: “I just can’t talk about it right now”? They may describe themselves as “lost for words,” as if the right words have not yet been invented to pinpoint feelings with precision. This is a normal,...

Shakespeare’s Hamlet is arguably the most often performed play in the canon and the subject of an endless array of scholarly papers. So it’s not surprising that many of its most famous lines are still in use today. A few come to mind: “Brevity is the soul of wit” (Act...

If someone asked me, “Do you believe in ghosts and the supernatural?” I would reply, “Of course not! Well — not really.” A longer, more truthful answer would be, “I’ve never seen a ghost or anything even close to that description, but I am interested in ghost stories...

In April it was “The Great Gatsby,” and in August it will be “Moby-Dick.” Amazingly, in a world increasingly defined by technology, people are still occasionally gathering in person to read literary classics aloud. On April 10, the Library of Congress hosted a public...

For five years I have been immersed in various stages of writing “Saving Ellen: A Memoir of Hope and Recovery.” Yet the act of writing a book, and now having written one, is a constant revelation. I am in new territory. During my decades-long career at four...

Last week, I gleefully attended the book launch for Saving Ellen, a debut memoir by fellow Mystic Writer Maura Casey. Why gleefully? Two reasons: one, I’m wildly excited for Maura, who has worked and waited for this moment; and two, it wasn’t my book launch. Does this...

Remember that old phrase used when someone unintentionally uttered a rhyme? “You’re a poet, and you don’t even know it.” Despite accidental harmonizing, I am not a poet, and I do know it. I’ve made my living as a writer and editor, largely at newspapers, and currently...

“Do you swear to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” We’ve heard this intimidating oath in every television show with a courtroom scene. Fortunately, writers of memoir and personal essay don’t have to make this declaration – at least...

There was definite relief and excitement after I wrote the first third of my novel, around the turn of the 20th century in Valentine, Nebraska. From what I’d already written, I ‘distilled’ an outline—a series of large post-It notes that captured the dramatic essence...

As I filled out “Please vote!” postcards before this month’s election, the hardest part wasn’t correctly copying all the names, adhering to the approved message (“Do not alter or expand this script!” warned my instruction sheet), or drawing pictures on the cards,...