You never know where an idea will pop up

Students and readers often ask me how I keep my creative fires stoked, so here’s a list I’m working on. They are primarily for writers, but would work for anyone seeking to be more creative. I’ll post more as they occur to… Read full post »

Gustave Flaubert

"Talent is long patience."
-- Gustave Flaubert

A few years ago I lay on the couch in my living room, curled up into a fetal position, intermittently groaning and blinking back tears.

I felt as though everything I had worked for had been ripped away… Read full post »

In case you’re interested, my review of Anne Tyler’s new novel, “The Beginner’s Goodbye” is up other at Truthdig.com.  You can click here to read it.

I just got back from Ottawa, where I was at the “Politics & the Pen” gala dinner, which raises money fo… Read full post »

Students often ask me how I manage to get to the page.  They want to know if I light candles, do yoga, drink coffee, read poetry . . . I answer yes to pretty much everything, although I do none of those things consistently.  (And besides, I’m not sure any such… Read full post »

I was asked by OPEN BOOK TORONTO to share 12 unexpected things about myself.  Here are the first three:

I recently wrote an essay for “The 49th Shelf” about what happens when we think in terms of “us versus them,” a subject close to my heart, since it’s the theme of my recent novel, OUR DAILY BREAD.

Here’s the beginning of it:

At a dinner party recently, someone brou

… Read full post »

“Open Book Toronto” asked me, and a few other writer types, to talk about how to write endings.  After pondering the question. . . . well, click here to find out what I said.  Hint:  It’s good to have one! Read full post »

Canadian edition of OUR DAILY BREAD

Well, OUR DAILY BREAD is out in Canada now, and I’m delighted with the Canadian edition.  Beautiful new cover, deckle edges, French flaps.  I think Harper Collins has done a terrific job, and so far the response from readers has been good.

Which mean… Read full post »

I recently reviewed Jeanette Winterson’s terrific new memoir — WHY BE HAPPY WHEN YOU COULD BE NORMAL — for Truthdig.com.  Here’s the first bit:

Winterson's scalding new memoir

Jeanette Winterson’s novels circle round the same themes—the power of story and myth

… Read full post »

"I've got a few things to say to you."

When I answered the phone someone asked, “Is this Lauren Davis, the author?â€

“It is.â€

“Well, then,†said a woman’s voice best described as brittle with tension, “I have a few things I want to say to you.â€

I intuited… Read full post »

I heard from an emerging writer recently who said she’d been crushed, devastated, destroyed by the feedback she’s received on her book, which she recently self-published, and by the lack of sales.  She was so convinced it was brilliant. Now she feels as though readers are idiots or else… Read full post »

Last week I received a request from one of the chaplains at the nearby hospital to visit a woman suffering from what may well be the last stages of alcoholism.  This was her fourth time in hospital in twelve months.

I admit my heart sank.

Although I am part of a… Read full post »

Bookbound has an article about my upcoming reading at the Musehouse Center for the Literary Arts in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia on Saturday, Feb. 18th.  I think the writer, Nicolette Milholin, did a fine job with it.  You can read it here.  Hope some of you can make it to the reading!… Read full post »

One afternoon some years ago when I lived in the French Alps, I was driving home with my friend Joan, a Liverpudlian (or ‘Scouser’ as she proudly called herself) who lived in the hamlet below my house, which was farther up the mountain.  We had been for lunch in nearby Annecy,… Read full post »

John Ruskin at Glenfinlas, Scotland, painted by John Everett Millais.

I lead a monthly writing workshop called SHARPENING THE QUILL, details of which you can find elsewhere on this website.  I named the workshops that because a long time ago I heard an anecdote about John Ruskin (at least I t/… Read full post »

Hello everyone,  I’m deep in the first draft of a new novel, which is why I haven’t been as active as usual on this page.

However, I did want to tell my Canadian fans that if they haven’t already bought a copy of OUR DAILY BREAD, they may have to wait… Read full post »

Lawrence Hill, a good friend and hugely successful writer, wrote to me recently to congratulate me on the success of my recent novel, OUR DAILY BREAD, which has been named to the Boston Globe and and The Globe & Mail as one of the best books of the year.  (Yea!) Published… Read full post »

Oh, Penguin, you’ve found my soft spot.  Books, books, beautiful books, as alluring on the outside as you are on the inside.

Take a gander at these beauties:

Penguin has come out with special edition… Read full post »

Writing a novel is, of course, a mad undertaking.  It begins with an effervescent, glimmering vision of perfection, which sets the writer off on her ink-stained quest, assured that THIS time she will reproduce the vision exactly, and as scintillatingly as it first appeared. This mirage is quickl… Read full post »

Pat Summers, a journalist here in Princeton, has written a lovely article about OUR DAILY BREAD, which also offers a peek into my writing process and the mysterious world of publishing.  The article appears today in THE PRINCETON PACKET.  Thanks very much to Pat, and to Michael James Redmond, the e… Read full post »

I’m absolutely thrilled to pass on the news that OUR DAILY BREAD has been named one of the best books of 2011 by The Globe & Mail.  I’m in pretty heady company, with Christoper Ondaatje, Elizabeth Hay, David Bezmozgis, Antanas Seleika and others.

Thanks to everyone who believed in th… Read full post »

How many times are we told to write about what we know?

Too many.

I’ll be honest — I’m a magpie, by which I mean I’m someone who’s easily distracted when  previously unnoticed bright shiny objects catch my eye.  I believe this is a wonderful quality for a writer.  Sur… Read full post »

Bailey-the-Rescuepoo

Today is the one-year anniversary of the day Bailey-the-Rescuepoo came to live with My Best Beloved and me.

The Best Beloved is in Europe just now, but he sent an email requesting I give Bailey a few extra treats for him on what he calls “Bailey Day.”  He… Read full post »

Good morning everyone — I hope that, if you live in the North East US, you’ve got your power back on by now.  Zounds, what a storm.

Just wanted to share that I have a guest post — 10 Hard Truths About Writing — up on the Grub Street Daily website. … Read full post »

The Best Beloved, Lauren B. Davis & Dany Laferriere having a Unliterary Dinner

Last night The Best Beloved and I had dinner with Haitian/Quebec writer Dany Laferriere.  Dany has written a vast number of book, including the well known and critically praised “How To Make Love To A Neg/… Read full post »