You can read some more of Marian's prose in the anthology My Little Red Book. Her piece, "Downward-Facing Dog," like the others in the book, tells the story of her own first period. (Summer camp, yoga pants... good stuff.)

 

Prose

Some of these pieces were written for school; others are just small things I've found in old notebooks. Check it out and see for yourself!

New! Mare of Blue Gables

Apparently, the only essays I write that I like are somehow connected to childhood. We could freud that until the cows come home... But let's not. (Besides, verbing weird language.) This is a fairly loose explanation of my room as a child. I haven't seen the space in more than 12 years, and I still have the clearest image of it.

Language of Love

A short essay I wrote on the subject of words themselves--and the childlike joy that can be found playing with a just a few syllables.

The Novel Problem

I've noticed that many people--including me!--tend to say things like, "I wish that I could write a novel!" I tried to figure out why it is that so many people freeze up, even when they know what they want to write.

 

Cherbourg theater façade.

Favorite Prose Moment:

"Discovering" the Norton Reader in 11th grade American Lit class. With topics ranging from embalming to dumpster-diving to philosphy to racial slurs, the heavy tome seemed like the Holy Grail of English books. That book made me realize that I could write prose--even if not short stories--and that non-fiction can be just as creative as fiction. That book also introduced me to Anne Fadiman, one of my biggest literary heroines.