Who on earth is going to use 'utilize' in a text message, a whopping seven characters including the always-hard-to-type 'z,' when you can say the exact same thing in three characters? I can't think of a sentence in which 'use' can't replace 'utilize.'

Writers like to write, and writing in different forms - short, long, bite-sized, done on the fly, done with painstaking attention - all interest me.

I teach a non-fiction writing class at New York University, and one of my great pleasures is deciding on the syllabus.

Dog parks are more cliquish than any other human gathering with the possible exception of seventh grade. Deal with it.

A snow day literally and figuratively falls from the sky, unbidden, and seems like a thing of wonder.

When you're researching you're learning. When you're writing, you're teaching.

I want a chainsaw very badly, because I think cutting down a tree would be unbelievably satisfying. I have asked for a chainsaw for my birthday, but I think I'll probably be given jewelry instead.