It's the last day of 2016 and so naturally a time to reflect on the year that has been. 2016 was a year of ups and downs, both personally and nationally. But I'll stick here with the personal. (We've all had enough of the national political scene, I'm sure.) 2016 started with the frenzy of promoting my books Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a…
I feel bad that I haven't been blogging as much this year. I've been putting my energies into writing my next book, The Story of Little Women, and keeping in touch with readers via my newsletter, "The Bluestocking Bulletin." I'm happy to say that I am in the final stretch of the rough draft of the manuscript (there will still be lots of revision to come)…
I had a fabulous weekend in San Francisco at the American Literature Association conference (more about that in a moment). The highlight of my trip was getting to see and hold in my hand the letters that Constance Fenimore Woolson wrote to Francis Boott in the late 1880s and early 90s. If you have read the biography, then you know how central her relationship…
It has been an amazing publication day for Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a Lady Novelist and Miss Grief and Other Stories. Reviews appeared today on the websites of The New Yorker and The New York Times. The latter review will appear on the cover of this week’s New York Times Book Review next to a review of Elaine Showalter’s new biography of…
It's been an amazing year in my writing, teaching, and reading lives, and I can't wait for 2016. In fact, for a while now, I've been writing 2016 when I write down the date. That's how much I'm looking forward to it. But first, a look back at 2015. I have been busy completing two books as well as writing four online pieces and…
A really exciting reading challenge for 2016 focused on "classic" women's writing (interpreted broadly). I'm going to participate by reading coming-of-age books. I would love to have some company. Send me an email or write in the comments below if you'd like to join me.
I recently sent out my fifth newsletter, The Woolson and Alcott Chronicles. As I sat down to begin writing, I couldn't think of much "news." I had maybe two items of interest. Then gradually more came to me, including the first two reviews of Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a Lady Novelist, scheduled giveaways on Goodreads, and a reveal of the publisher for my…
I received an email recently from a novelist who is writing about Woolson and returning soon to Italy to visit the sites associated with her. It's exactly three years ago that I was on my trip to England and Italy to follow in Woolson's footsteps. So I found myself looking through my old pictures and thought I would share some of them as a way of…
Two sets of proofs arrived on my doorstep today: That means twice the excitement--and twice the work. It's thrilling to see how they will look in print. Scouring each page for errors will be quite a task, though, one that I hope I do well. This is my last chance to make sure that everything is as near to perfect as I can make…
A recent piece in the Atlantic argues that women writers’ lack of all-supporting, all-sacrificing spouses—in the vein of Vera Nabokov—may be a missing link to help explain the lack of gender parity in the literary world today. Vera was the kind of wife who not only took care of all of the details of her family’s life (including doing all the driving—Vladimir never…