April Davila - Author
This morning I finished the final draft of my second novel. It's done. I think. Or mostly done. I still plan to make a recording of myself reading it out loud, to catch any last little things, but mostly it's done. So why don't I feel like … [Continue reading] about Anticlimactic Milestones
I was reading this little zine of a book the other day. It's called Chandelier, written by Mieko Kawakami (and translated by David Boyd) and I got it for free at my local bookstore on Indie Bookstore Day back in April. It's a just a quick little … [Continue reading] about Books by Alexa
I was teaching at a lovely retreat last weekend when I overheard someone say something that has been bouncing around in my brain all week: Happiness is not found in pleasure. It's found in acceptance. Putting aside the fact that the man who said … [Continue reading] about Happiness In Not Found In Pleasure
The other day, in a workshop I was leading, we got into a discussion of holes vs. hunger. An astute writer in the group, one who is working on a memoir, used the story holes/hunger distinction to describe how she feels when a manuscript leaves her … [Continue reading] about Story Holes Vs. Hunger
I had lunch with a writer friend the other day and, as we do, we started talking about books. She asked what I'd been reading. I told her I had just finished The Ship of Magic and was half way through Fun Home, then added, jokingly, that then there … [Continue reading] about Books You Don’t Post on GoodReads
People sometimes ask how I manage to keep working when life gets in the way and they laugh when I tell them, truly: lower the bar. If you're caring for a sick loved one, or you're a new parent, or work is super busy right now, you might not have … [Continue reading] about Lower the Bar
I return to this poem by Jack Gilbert over and over. Today seems like a good day to share it. A Brief for the Defense Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babiesare not starving someplace, they are starvingsomewhere else. With flies in … [Continue reading] about A Brief For The Defense