So, I did it. The race got run. I was apprehensive about this year’s New York marathon right up until the moment I crossed the starting line on the south side of the Verrazzano Bridge – finally preparations had not gone especially well. Things were not improved when I thought I felt a twinge of cramp during mile one – but …
The Night Before the New York Marathon
This is a picture of the finish line of the New York Marathon. I took it yesterday afternoon. Like many other runners, I did my last training run in Central Park, and when it was over I walked up to the finish and stood there, imagining that moment on Sunday afternoon when my legs will finally stop moving. I …
Zut Alors
I’ve written in the past about the anxious moment just before you click on the email from your editor with the jpeg of your new book cover attached. A similar frisson occurs when you hear the narrator of the audiobook for the first time. It’s odd, hearing someone else read your words. You quickly realize that even though the words can’t …
Don’t Stop Believin’ (Or Writin’)
It’s been three and a half weeks since I last wrote a word of my new novel. They have not been good weeks. I’ve been listless and irritable. I’ve been sleeping badly. I’ve been feeing blue for no apparent reason. When I don’t write, I lose my center of gravity. I’m untethered. It was all going so well, too. I’ve …
THE PARIS HOURS – cover reveal!
It’s been an awfully long time since I posted here, but I’m thrilled to post the cover of my new novel, THE PARIS HOURS, which will be published next May by Flatiron Books, an imprint of Macmillan. THE PARIS HOURS will be the seventh novel I’ve published. Each book has come into the world with its own unique set of …
Goodreads Giveaway!
Somehow, the paperback of SETTING FREE THE KITES launches on Tuesday, January 9, and to celebrate, the nice people at Goodreads are giving away 25 copies of the book. Go here to enter your name for the drawing. You have until January 16 to put your name in the virtual hat. Good luck!
That Time I Interviewed Doris Kearns Goodwin
In addition to writing books, I also run a literary festival in Columbia, Missouri, called The Unbound Book Festival. It’s a great little event – we’re heading into our third year – and while it takes up a huge amount of time, I relish every moment of it. (You all should totally come, by the way. It’s completely free to …
Fall Appearances for SETTING FREE THE KITES
Greetings from lovely Maine, where my wife and I (and the dog) are spending a few blissful days reading, writing, and relaxing before we return to Missouri and face the madness that is the start of the new academic year. In addition to all the fun and games that having four children in four different schools entails (= military-precision planning that …
Stealing the Words.
“When he left us, he stole all the words.” One of the central dramas in SETTING FREE THE KITES revolves around the illness of Liam Carter, the brother of the novel’s narrator, Robert. Liam suffers from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. I first became aware of this terrible disease several years ago when I read a piece in the 2002 edition of …
Day 31
Today I can eat what I want. But I probably won’t. Yesterday my wife and I finished the Whole 30, a dietary regime which removes all sugars, gluten, grains, beans, dairy, alcohol and (it sometimes feels) just about everything else from your diet for 30 days. I went into the project with a fair amount of apprehension, perhaps for obvious …