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In my last blog, I raised the question of how it is possible for fiction to reveal more truth than non-fiction--how things that never happened can be made to feel more real than, well, reality. While acknowledging that I have no answer, my working hypothesis is rooted in a writer’s need to explore those things which he or she are driven to understand but, for an assortment of reasons, cannot yet comprehend. Why then, you might ask, would a person write instead of doing medica

Six weeks on the road is a stretch, and when forty-three events in four states are factored in, there is only one logical question that can be asked: are you insane? Maybe. I kicked off the Southern Girl book tour on May 8 near Columbia with Friends of the Irmo Library, the first of a number of library events on the schedule. The crowd was small but eager to learn about the book. The crowd was anything but small the following evening at a private party on Hilton Head Island.

Last week’s blog mentioned some challenges presented by Mexico that required adaptation. For me, the challenge above all others was to write a good book which, after all, was the reason for coming. Three forces shaped my time and influenced the results. The first of these was my writing group, the core of which consisted of Donna Meyer, Roy Sorrels, Barbara Covarrubias and yours truly. Donna had been, some years earlier, in the original cast of the European production of the

San Miguel de Allende was recently named the world’s number 1 city in a Conde Nast survey of its readers. That’s right, NUMBER ONE!! Paris? An also-ran. London? Chopped fish ‘n chips. New York? Forgettaboutit! No one here takes this coronation particularly seriously except the mayor, who is widely believed to have higher political goals. The city dates from the year 1541. In the decades following the Cortez invasion, it became a significant way-station along the roads connect

Last week I wrote about our move to Mexico in 1993, a move that promised to give me the time to write the next novel at hours later than 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. I should say a bit more about that decision. Why Mexico? The three most compelling reasons were culture, distance and dollars. As long as we were planning to be gone for a year with our two younger children, ages 14 and 13, we wanted a cultural experience that broadened the horizons of all four of us. Barbara and I felt the

When I left you last week I was on the cusp of literary stardom with my first novel, Bethesda’s Child. I had what I had been assured was a very good story, one of the top literary agents in New York had signed me up as a client, and the timing of the genetic science, which anticipated issues and tensions springing to world consciousness a few years later when Dolly the Sheep was created (invented?) seemed perfect. All the elements had fallen into place for a best seller with

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When was the last time you took a journey? A drive across country or a trip to Europe? Journeys can be measured in miles, but also in changes; a new job, adding to your family, or entering retirement after a long career. I am embarking on such a journey with the May 15, 2014 publication of my novel, A Southern Girl. Like every trip into the unknown, there are the butterflies of anticipation, anxieties about what could go wrong, and the knowledge that you are leaving the safe

For a number of years, I've had the great pleasure of regularly lunching with Pat Conroy & Bernie Schein, two of my favorite writers and favorite humans. This week, my friend Scott Graber was kind enough to videotape part of the lunch so that I could share it with you. It was a wonderful afternoon, in which longtime friends gently poked fun at each other while sharing fantastic food and wine at one of our favorite restaurants, Griffin Market. Pat and Bernie are truly two of t