Author Archives: mabujones

When I wrote Maud & Addie I did not identify a particular audience or age range. I wrote out of the joy of keeping company with characters who asked good questions and tried to solve their own dilemmas. If they … Continue reading →

Two sisters arrived one afternoon, in the middle of an argument with each other. I didn’t know it then, but their argument was taking place on an island at the heart of their story. Around the same time that I … Continue reading →

When I was fairly new to falling headlong into creative writing, I complained one day to a group of more seasoned writers that I kept repeating the same scenes or stories. Many of those scenes and characters were based on … Continue reading →

We’ve been at home with ourselves for a long time now. Some of us have cleaned out that storage closet, some of us have established new exercise routines and some of us have learned to play the flute. Many of … Continue reading →

When we write, we create main characters. They are the lens through which we experience the story, the sensibility that readers identify with. In traditional terms, this character is the protagonist. In even more traditional terms, they are the hero, … Continue reading →

In this season of starlight, in this year of isolation, a great deal has been asked of us. We have managed and survived by finding our stamina, being inventive, determined, introspective, and outreaching. I have unwrapped, unpolished, unassuming gifts for … Continue reading →

In this pandemic we are gripped by the vast and the invisible and the chaotic. We feel the largeness that makes us feel small, our days confined to repetitions. What does this kind of existence do to our writing life? … Continue reading →

In 1978, Carolyn Forché published her poem “The Colonel.” Debates ensued about whether this piece of writing is truly a poem or whether it is prose. At first glance it looks like a poem, a thick, narrative poem. On closer … Continue reading →

Discipline is a tricky word for artists. It is for me, at least. As a noun, there’s the larger, inclusive meaning: a branch of knowledge and there’s also the practice of training oneself or another to obey rules. Sometimes a … Continue reading →

                        for Pat Schneider  6/1/34 – 8/10/20 Hot cornbread in cold milk. Singing all the way home from Chicopee. The way she said Missouri and diabetes. Her long legs and the sweep of her skirt. Hands steepled before her mouth. … Continue reading →