Where does inspiration come from?
The subject of my first book—homeless women, or more broadly, the role that unattached women living at the margins of society play in relation to the rest of us—came as sort of a surprise. This wasn’t a topic I would have deliberately chosen. And not until after I finished writing the book did I really understood what it’s about.
It began with a chance remark by an elegant woman I knew, comparing herself to a shopping bag lady—one of the homeless who then lived on the streets of New York City, carrying their possessions in bags. The thing was, no one ever looked less like a shopping bag lady than this woman. That contradiction started me thinking: where could this self-image of hers have come from? Read more
Practice and inspiration
The notion of practice is a funny combination of the mundane and the transcendent. Disciplined meditation practice leads over time to a level of skill that supports the development of wisdom, or insight into what Buddhists call emptiness, the interconnectedness of everything. And long practice of the pragmatic necessities of making a living turns out to be a foundation for writing that goes beyond mundane.
All these years, I thought I was just slogging through various writing jobs, some really interesting and some pretty boring. Turns out it was like physical exercise. Read more