Author and Ghostwriter
Welcome to yet another experimental Ruby Peru literary endeavor. Don’t hang up! It’s an audio-cookbook. You’re going to love the concept. First, of course you’ll need recipes written down, which you’ll get. But the main draw is that while you’re cooking, you get to listen to a conversation taking place on a foodie road trip. … Read more
I’ve been invited to a month-long symposium for artists working on issues having to do with pollution at a writer’s residency in Thailand called Studio88. It’ll be me and about 20 other artists and writers who think of themselves as influencers and thought leaders on any topic related to pollution. My interest in the topic … Read more
I published a novel in 2017, which I had spent ten years writing. It began as just an exercise in creativity with no special agenda, but as I wrote Bits of String Too Small to Save, certain social issues became accidentally embedded in the plot. It was really just a story about a ten-year-old girl … Read more
It’s crazy how hard it is to change channels. Going on vacation, for instance. It’s supposed to be relaxing but it’s stressful before it’s relaxing. If you attached electrodes to your body to create a stress chart of a vacation, it would start at normal high stress, then increase to impossibly heart-attack high, then reduce … Read more
On my latest trip to Boston, I had a somewhat unusual experience. First, I was in a cafe where a woman was sitting with a bunch of her girlfriends chatting. I’d say she was in her sixties, which I mention because it makes the story more interesting. And she was talking about a vacation she … Read more
Hello readers and welcome to me being driven slowly crazy by well-meaning people who can’t really be criticized for saying what they believe to be a compliment. Clearly this isn’t obvious, so I’m here to tell you: calling someone a “strong woman” is exactly the same as calling someone a “clean African American.” Or a … Read more
The fact that nobody else in Maine has a chamomile lawn ought probably to be a deterrent from me attempting this landscaping idea, but when has such logic ever stopped me before? Mainers aren’t known for being innovative thinkers. Let’s be honest. They’re known for being folksy, which isn’t the same thing. I may end … Read more
I eat my breakfast at the Circle K. It’s a two-block walk at 6:30 am, when I tend to want coffee. The gourmet pastry shop across the street closed down months ago. The sandwich shop by the U-haul dealership is shuttered and up for rent. Walgreens is there. I could buy a bag of coffee … Read more
First thing I do, I walk off the plane, and it’s two a.m. in New Delhi. I occurs to me I might have picked a flight with a more convenient arrival time. India’s confusing enough in the daytime, but what the hell. I’m wide awake and feeling brave, so I change $1000 at a booth that … Read more