A Gift From Shakespeare on His 452nd Birthday
"This above all: to thine own self be true…" ...
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29
April
Blog
The Mature Art of Creativity: A Return to the Spirit of Childhood
Picasso is quoted as having said, “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” The implication is that in gaining technical proficiency, we lose the spontaneity and freedom with which children create. There often seems to be a...
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30
March
On Writing Fantasy: A Swashbuckling New Adventure
Why did William Faulkner write 14 novels that occur in an imaginary place he named Yoknaphatawpha County? I can’t speak for Faulkner, but after writing several historically accurate novels, I have my own reasons for wanting to try my hand at writing about places that...
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23
March
Celebrating Strong Women on International Women’s Day
Today is International Women’s Day, a day to celebrate women and focus on gender parity. Several men I’ve spoken to wonder why there is a need for such a day, especially in 2016, or why they should observe it, since the woman in his life knows...
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08
March
Venturing into the Darkness of a New Novel
I am sitting before a page that refuses to write itself. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to start a new novel — Is it easy? How do you do it? — I guess there’s your answer. So why do it at all? Most writers...
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22
February
Writing About Love on Valentine’s Day
What is on a writer’s mind as he writes about love between his characters? I’ve been asked this question numerous times by book clubs. You might ask the same question about any number of topics. What goes through your mind as you write about eating chocolate?...
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13
February
Back to the Beginning: How I Wrote My First Novel
When I began work on The Third Power in the late 1970s, Rhodesia was in its death throes, about to be reborn as Zimbabwe. I was writing fiction based on real events in southern Africa, and from one day to the next there was no...
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28
January
Completing a Novel: Behind the Scenes
I never cease to marvel at the complexity of the publication process, at how many talented people it takes to bring a written work to completion and make it available to readers. As On the Sickle’s Edge inches ever closer to publication, I find myself...
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27
January
When Is it Perfect Enough?
A first grade teacher was asked by a visitor to her classroom how she managed to inspire such wonderful drawings from her young students. The teacher responded: “I know when to take the crayons away.” On the other hand, the renowned painter, Pierre Bonnard—and perhaps others—was...
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03
January
Change That Matters
When I wrote Bloodlines, I knew how important good teachers were to the future of South Africa, but I couldn’t have known how long the shortage of good teachers would last; or how long it would take to train enough of them to fill every...
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14
December
Lessons from South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid Struggle
What lessons are there from South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle for our own efforts to combat racism here in the United States today? This question arose during a talk I gave a few weeks ago in Sun City, Florida, and sparked a conversation that I have reflected...
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02
December
An Expat Thanksgiving
I try to live in gratitude. Sometimes I'm more successful than others. I know I'm succeeding when I find myself humming in a traffic jam, exulting in the particular greyness of a lowering sky, or enjoying the enforced moment to slow down while waiting and...
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24
November