It’s funny to me that so many people want to claim their work as memoir when it’s really fiction, I guess because I’m the opposite. Does hiding behind the label of fiction make me a coward? (And is that any better or worse than being a liar?)

Now that the temperature is back up in the 40s and 50s, it’s easy to say that the world can be extremely beautiful when frozen. Or melting.

These were taken in my backyard during The Great Thaw of ’09, aka two weeks ago.

Rewatching Sailor Moon (thanks to May Ann!) reminds me of my childhood. Specifically, of my firm belief that I had super powers. Yes, on top of being a writer, I used to want to be a witch/superhero.

(A witch of the Practical Magic variety, not Hocus Pocus.)

I also used to want to be a cow girl, a veterinarian, and a jewel thief. The illegal aspiration was inspired by Honest Illusions and further reinforced by To Catch a Thief (with the beautiful Grace Kelly, who was literally a princess!).

Last but not least, I planned to own a dude ranch in Colorado with my friend Amanda. We even looked up properties and planned out a (semi-realistic) budget!

While I’ve given up on the thieving and the dude ranch — although I did teach myself to pick a lock! — I confess there’s a small part of me that still hopes and dreams of the day I discover my special powers.

In the meantime, I’ll be writing books. ;)

Which childhood dreams have you held on to, and which have you let go of? What have you accomplished? What are your dreams and aspirations now?

At a time when I am desperately seeking guidance and inspiration, I look to those who came before me…

In a Guardian (UK) interview, writer Toni Morrison says:

“My books are always questions for me. What if? How does it feel to…? Or what would it look like if you took racism out? Or what does it look like if you have the perfect town, everything you ever wanted? And so you ask a question, put it in a time when it would be theatrical to ask, and find the people who can articulate it for you and try to make them interesting. The rest of it is all structure, how to put it together.”

Before that, she told Time magazine:

My 15-year-old daughter lives to write. What advice do you have for aspiring writers? —Darren Wethers, St. Louis, Mo.

The work is in the work itself. If she writes a lot, that’s good. If she revises a lot, that’s even better. She should not only write about what she knows but about what she doesn’t know. It extends the imagination.

This is, I think, the same thing Zadie Smith was getting at: it’s okay to write what you “don’t know.” Because you’ll learn it. Plus as writers, we should have strong enough imaginations to fill in the blanks. Isn’t that why a lot of us are in this in the first place? Imaginations that never rest.

Questions, speculation, imagination. Those are definitely the things that fuel my dream of writing for a living.

I also thought it was really interesting to read about Toni Morrison’s daily writing habits/routine. This site has a number of other famous people’s daily routines, not just writers.

There’s something I’ve been pondering for a little while, and I need to ask y’all: