Margaret Willey

To ease myself into a new project, I am tinkering with autobiographical essays that were in various states of incompletion--several just needing a solid conclusion, but conclusions are very hard for me. Finished one essay yesterday about loving the book HANS BRINKER by Mary Mapes Dodge when I was a young reader, using the  Read More 

This song is an anthem for one of the sisters in my short story collection, tentatively titled, HOW SHE LEFT. It is from my past, sung by the late great Sandy Denny in the 60's--I love it and my character loves it, plays it over and over--it  Read More 

I had hoped to finish a first draft of a novel-in-stories, but the month of December was filled with tasks and programs and holiday concerns that took me away from a solid writing schedule. That's okay. I am about two-thirds finished with this new project, tentatively titled HOW SHE LEFT. Now it will take  Read More 

Epigram for the new novel: "Dreams are the touchstones of our character." Henry David Thoreau

I am nervous about my newly finished novel relying so heavily on the character's ongoing nightmares. It seems a tricky conceit, and one that is easy for writers to abuse. However, it is crucial to the plot that my  Read More