Sara Ryan

This may come as a shock, but many writers do not lead lives of adventure and peril. Years ago, I was in a workshop with Pat Murphy, excellent writer and teacher, co-founder of the Tiptree Awards. (And her Wikipedia entry includes the line “See also: Pataphysics.”) Here’s an audio interview wherein she talks, among other things, [...]

I’ve been loving Laini Taylor’s recent photo-rich posts — writers who are also artists have an unfair advantage! ;) — and this one about a Portland neighborhood ramble inspired me to document what I did on my lunch break today. I first noticed the bus months ago. Every time I saw it, I thought I [...]

Sometimes when friends return borrowed books, I feel compelled to reread them right away, to welcome them home. Tove Jansson’s Fair Play came back recently. It was an especially fast reread because it’s so short and clear, not a wasted word, a credit both to her and to translator Thomas Teal. Fair Play is connected [...]

When I return from a trip, I try to build in a recovery day, to catch my breath before catching up. It typically includes a lot of laundry, direct from suitcase to washer. Of all household tasks I find laundry one of the least daunting and most satisfying. Today I realized one reason why. Right [...]

…a place like this is not a bad place to be. Lots going on. Usual hat-switching. Ideas that will take some time to process. Regular doses of cold medicine somewhat prolonging the processing time but perhaps enhancing the ideas, or just making them more strange. Also: in case you didn’t see it on Twitter, you [...]

Whether or not I travel for the holidays, the end brings a jet-lag, new-time-zone feeling. It’s also a little like moving, since we tend to reconfigure the house significantly to accommodate festivity. My writing desk, for instance, was deployed as a beverage station. I got the desk on May 2, 2009. (I’m able to be this [...]