Blog

More than twenty years ago, I moved to Costa Rica. I lived there for several years, in part to research what would become my 432-page guide for people who wanted to do the same. [...]

The call comes when David’s at work on the tugboat. His mother, your proverbial sweet little old lady, is in the hospital, fighting the nurses as if her life depends on it. Over the [...]

My 5 favorite books of 2021 -- and what they taught me about writing THE COLOR OF AIR (Gail Tsukiyama) is a quiet storm of a novel set in Hawaii. It’s a family saga [...]

When you’re thinking about moving somewhere new, you research things like housing prices, how far it is from a major airport, and weather. It occurred to me recently that it’s also important to check [...]

Thirty years ago I drove a red rental car into Silver City, New Mexico, on my way to the Gila Cliff Dwellings and the rest of my life. I’d just moved from Brooklyn back [...]

I’m face to face with the bronze cast of a woman with full lips, cowrie-shaped eyes, and the body of a manta ray. We’re in the Legion of Honor’s neoclassical courtyard, where Rodin’s Thinker [...]

I recently spoke with Berlin-based Joe Baur, creator of the Travel Tomorrow podcast. (My part of the program starts at 14:00.) We talked about many things, from how to be a slightly less Ugly [...]

Susan Orlean once described writing a book as “a slow-motion wrestling match.” I’ll add that there’s no one to tag in if your energy flags. Worse, at first you can’t even see your opponent. [...]

I read in bed at night. When I sense sleep rippling towards me, I drop the book to the floor (I don’t have a nightstand), hoping to catch the wave before my body and [...]

The gurney was hard, and I’d been holding still for fifteen long minutes. Tears pooled in my ears, and my nose itched. I took a breath deeper than I would have thought possible. “That’s [...]