Barbara Falconer Newhall

Tulips and Sex — Writing as If Everyone I Know Were Dead

April 3, 2014 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

I want to write about tulips today. I don’t want to write about sex. The trouble is, for me, writing about tulips means writing about sex: something about their juicy curves brings erotic metaphors to my particular mind. I had thought that once my mother — and father — were no longer alive and reading over my shoulder, I’d be able to write my heart out, but . . . Read more.

Dead Stuff – Which I Will Be Too One of These Days

March 27, 2014 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

The fifth-century Saint Jerome kept a human skull on his desk to remind him of his mortality – memento mori. But if you’re like me and you like to take walks in the woods, you don’t need a skull taking up space on your desk to remind you that sooner or later everything dies, including you. That’s because the woods are full of dead stuff. Read more.

The de Young This Week: Bursting With Art — And Flowers

March 20, 2014 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Art. Bouquets. More art. More bouquets. My idea of a good time. I spent the day yesterday at the annual Bouquets to Art show at the de Young Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park — joined by two friends who enjoy flowers and art as much as I do. Read more.

You’ve Got the Agent, You’ve Got the Publisher — But Do You Have the Publicist?

March 13, 2014 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

You get an idea for a book. You like it a lot. You think people are going to want to read this book. You’re stoked. Then you fret for months and years over how to transform this idea you like so much into a 250-page manuscript that people will actually read. Read more.