by Amy Paturel | Apr 12, 2024 | Uncategorized
Artist in Residence: Bob Eckstein A highlight of the Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop, Eckstein captured the essence of Erma in real time with his incredible illustrations. I’m ashamed to admit that I wasn’t familiar with Erma Bombeck, or her columns and books,...
by Amy Paturel | Feb 14, 2024 | Uncategorized
Unsplash: Jon Tyson If you’ve been reading my newsletter for a while, you know I’ve been an avid reader of The New York Times “Modern Love” column since its debut in 2004. I frequently share Modern Love essays in my classes and in 2020, I interviewed five authors...
by Amy Paturel | Jan 14, 2024 | Uncategorized
It isn’t often that you get to meet a writer whose work you have read, admired—and yes, quoted—for more than a decade. For me, that writer is Dani Shapiro. When her book, Still Writing, came out in 2013, I consumed it in one sitting. Her candor, her confessions, her...
by Amy Paturel | Dec 9, 2023 | Uncategorized
Ever since I “met” Nikki Campo, and scored a spot on her annual holiday letter mailing list, I have anxiously awaited its arrival every December. The reason: Even if I have a bout of the holiday blues, her letter puts me in stitches. Every. Single. Year....
by Amy Paturel | Oct 6, 2023 | Uncategorized
For more than a decade, I have been toying with the idea of writing a book around my supernatural connection to my husband’s late wife. I just couldn’t figure out which genre made sense. A novel? A memoir? A science fiction thriller? None of these approaches...
by Amy Paturel | Aug 18, 2023 | Uncategorized
If you’ve been a subscriber to this newsletter for a while, you may recall that I launched a Tiny Love Story (TLS) challenge in 2021 using Facebook Groups—and at least five of our 20 participants placed their stories (not bad odds!). Let me pause here to explain what...
