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The biggest "ramble" of my recent days was a trip to Chicago to attend the Associated Writing Programs conference last week and do a panel presentation with Phyllis Root, Franny Billingsley, and Christine Heppermann. We had a great time, thanks to a wonderful student from the Art Institute of Chicago, who--at the … [Read more...] about Ramblings

Writing is such a solitary act, most of the time, that’s it’s really worth celebrating when we find a writing community that is vibrant, thriving, and supportive of all its members. So this is a celebration. Get out the cava! First I want to celebrate our daughter Sarah Busse who, along with co-editor of Verse … [Read more...] about What Poetry Makes Happen

We are trying to keep a hibiscus plant from last summer alive inside our dry, not-very-bright house this winter. The plant has dropped a number of leaves but still has some green and yesterday when we passed it on the stair landing it offered this one gift--a huge bright bloom for these gray days of February. (I find … [Read more...] about Winter Gifts

My Father's Village by Claire A. Nivola (Frances Foster Books, 2011) tells the story of the author's visits to the Sardinian village where her father was born. We readers go with her as she and her family "traveled far across the ocean to Italy..." to the "overnight boat [that] took us from the mainland to the island's … [Read more...] about My Father’s Village by Claire Nivola: a Wonderful Story, a Wonderful Model.

On this next to the last day of 2011, almost the end of the year, I want to add one more voice in the series on beginnings. We've listened to people who begin with research, who begin with doodling around, who begin in their heads and don't write until they know a good portion of the story. Today's guest -- Anne … [Read more...] about Beginning With a Picture