When presented with a neat set of categories, characters, or individuals that seem to parcel the world into four, it’s difficult not to want to place oneself in one: my element is Earth, I’m melancholic, I’d get Sorted into Hufflepuff, I’m Bea Arthur, I’m Miranda, I’m Ben Grimm, I’m Agravain,…
It’s taken me a while to pick out the thing I miss most about Girl Guides, and that is the opportunity to try new things every week.
As some of you may know, I recently returned from a month-long research trip to Europe. What you may not know is that I decided to travel as light as possible. In practical terms, this means the unthinkable: no books*! For someone who used to travel with no fewer than…
Here is something a writer like me — who plunges headlong into exciting made-up situations but hates thinking of all the ramifications — hears a lot from her critique partners: I didn’t get it. “I didn’t get it” is a frustrating critique, not because it isn’t useful but because, well,…