A million years ago, back when my husband and I were young and "in transition," there was a little expression we would occasionally turn to each other and say with half smiles and raised eyebrows: "flux sucks." Well, this is certainly a good week to bring the old...

Something happened, or rather didn't happen, back during The London Book Fair that I have been waiting to write about. Well, the time has come...This year, in a bid for cultural exchange and global understanding within the publishing industry, the British Council...

I'm still in the midst of what we have started to affectionately call "The Long Goodbye," nearly a week's-worth of events, official and un-, surrounding the graduation of Number 2 son.  It's been wonderful.I have had the occasional moment, though, to check on blogs,...

Today marks the beginning of a rather momentous week in our family. Number 2 Son has just, three minutes ago, finished his last paper for his secondary school education, and on Friday morning, he graduates from High School. Americans make a big deal of this, and since...

It's been a tough year all around. You don't need me to tell you that. And among those who have felt this economic downturn the most acutely have been the already beleaguered though valiant band of Independent Presses. You don't need me to tell you that, either.As a...

I'm home and sitting at my desk wondering what to do first. Clearly, what I should do first is finish rereading the new novel before I send it out to my three "trusted readers." I'm especially lucky this time around because not only do I have three readers eager to...

Just a quick post to announce...wait for it...the completion of the first draft of my new novel! I had hoped to finish it while I was here, and indeed it has happened. Like I've said, there is something about this place.As it stands now, the novel has just over 76,000...

This is one of those looking back to look forward posts...About 3 or 4 years ago I decided I desperately, DESPERATELY, needed to meet some other writer/artist-types. I had a wonderful family, marvellous friends, but I didn't know anyone who even came remotely close to...

It is very strange, actually more than strange, how sometimes what you are writing about actually happens in "real life." Life has been a bit eerie and frightening on this front for the past month or so.For some reason I have hesitated to talk too much about my new...

Yes, I know it's a shock to see me here two days in a row, but I had to let you all know that I am the guest star over at Nik's blog. There are questions answered, some silliness and even a competition. Check it out, why don't you....Look! Our book covers are holding...

I awoke on this very rainy Sunday morning wondering what the day might have in store for me. I did what I always do each morning - I looked outside and made my first decision (since it was pouring I decided not to go out for a run. Oh well...best laid plans etc). I...

I take it as a great compliment that the incredibly talented, Tania Hershman of The White Road and Other Stories, saw fit to give me "The Kreativ Blogger" award. Thanks, Tania! And so now I must list 7 things that I love....this ain't so easy. I know I'll spend the...

The headline over a surprisingly long article in Saturday's Guardian read:The postwar literary landscape has been dominated by the male giants of American letters. So where are all the women?That was enough to get me going, which I suppose is the point of a headline....

A couple of days ago, Absolute Vanilla wrote a post about having received this "Noblesse Oblige" award.The blurb accompanying the blog says: The recipient of this award is recognized for the following: 1) The Blogger manifests exemplary attitude, respecting the...

It's all felt a little, well, strange lately.  Maybe it's the swine flu "pandemic."  Maybe it's the weather going from summer to winter and back again every few hours.  But I seem to find myself surrounded by lots of negative energy, lots of worrying about the future,...

It's that time of year. Baseball season has started. The air is getting warmer. The grass is getting greener. The Boston Red Sox have already had a successful series against the dreaded New York Yankees. Readers of Tangled Roots have often asked me why baseball...

When I began to take my writing "seriously," I was looking around for some sort of organization where I could meet other writers, or at least have access to information.   I called The Society of Authors to be told in not too many words that the Society was only open...

Two things I love...well, actually, one thing and one person. First, the thing. Remember I wrote here about my disappointment at not being able to buy Moleskine journals at the Moleskine stall of the London Book Fair? Well, it all got to be a bit too much so I went on...

Phew....Monday, I was in Brighton discussing the ins and outs of teaching creative writing in schools with the terrific people from New Writing South. I'm really looking forward to doing some teaching for them.  I haven't done enough lately.  And I loved the way they...

Imagine a huge empty space. No, imagine two huge empty spaces connected by a wide corridor. Then fill the space with colourful banners hanging from the ceiling, a Manhattanesque grid of row upon row of "stalls", each with it's own colourful banners, walls of books,...

Well, Paris was all it had ever been, will ever be for me. We walked a lot, we ate too much, we were happy despite the rain and the white Londonesque skies. There isn't much I could say that I haven't already said in a poem that I wrote a few years ago and features...

One of the biggest perks about living in London is that, supposedly, I can go to Paris at the drop of a hat. If you live in New York and sit on a train for a couple of hours, the best you can do is Philadelphia. I don't mean to cast aspersions on the City of Brotherly...

Sitting in the middle of my tbr pile was the novel, Writing Therapy, by Tim Atkinson. I knew nothing about it except that it was written by my blogging friend otherwise known as The Dotterel . But the cover has a picture of an old "Imperial Model T" typewriter on it,...

This is prime religious season for us Guineys.  Passover and Easter all coming together at once -- a seder Saturday night, Easter dinner on Sunday.  I'm sure this might seem weird to many, especially since we have kids. When D and I got married and decided we would...

Today is the last stop on the "Space-Time Tour" for a while.  I'll be hanging around with Elizabeth Baines, herself a most wonderful writer, and talking about the relationship between music and language.  I don't actually talk about music all that much so this gave me...

It's hard to believe, but we are embarking on Week 3 of the "Tangled Roots Space-Time Tour." Today's stop is over at BT's place where we'll be discussing writing about Russia and the origins of the character of Grace.  BT is not a writer herself, and so to hear her...

While answering all these incredibly probing questions that have been launched at me on the "Space-Time Tour," I've also been catching up on my reading.  My "tbr" pile is huge, of course.  But I love the way it's filled with books written by people I now can call...

While I've been flitting around the cosmos, another more earth-bound journey has been happening chez Guiney. It actually started more than a year ago as I described here. This is the time of year when kids applying to American universities find out where they have and...

Oops.  I guess my weekend in Scotland was even more "intoxicating" than I had realized, because it has come to my attention that I called yesterday's wonderful blog stop "The Doggerel," rather than The Dotterel.  How embarrassing!  Please forgive me Tim, and everyone,...

Week 2 of "The Space-Time Tour" begins with a fascinating and in-depth discussion with The Doggerel.  Now we get to the nitty gritty of some of the theoretical physics concepts that sail in and around Tangled Roots, not to mention my brain, while also coming back...