A Typical Writing Day

This essay originally appeared in my (small press) writing day

I come into my office each morning with one goal-to calm the chaos in my head. I don’t sleep well these days, probably my body telling me I need fewer hours in the sack-and what I’m working on tends to make its way into my dreams and woozy waking moments.

I always have several projects going at once. This lets me jump off a stalled page into one that might be more active and responsive to my persistent nudge.

There’s a novel. The current one is set in the late 1940’s in Cambridge, MA. The husband is pursuing his doctorate at Harvard; the wife is deciding if she wants to stay married. I’ll be honest. This draws from the story of my parents, in that same time and place. They’re both gone now, and I’m free to render them as I like, without fear of offense or condemnation.

There’s a story. The new one is about an older woman who decides to cut her hair, after wearing it long all her life. Of course, there’s a lot more to it than that. You’ll have to wait until I finish it and find a publisher to know the rest.

There’s an essay-this one, in fact. Its immediate predecessor was a piece I wrote about the television show Perry Mason. Did you know its executive producer was a woman? I found that fascinating. You can read the piece here.