What The Shadow Knows: What Part of Yourself Do You Reject?
In Jungian terms, the “shadow” refers to those aspects of ourselves we reject. Are there aspects of yourself you keep hidden, that only appear in your dreams?
Write Your Own Fairy Tale
Fairy tales are simple stories that can serve as guides to the archetypal patterns in our unconscious minds. Use your favorite to discover and write you own custom fairy tale.
Treating Patients or Creating Characters? Making the Choice
Dale Kushner, author of The Conditions of Love, recalls the time when she decided she must choose between becoming a Jungian analyst and a writer of fiction.
What Do We Really Want To Know About a Writer?
Dale Kushner, author of The Conditions of Love, follows up her popular "Five Best Questions to Ask a Writer" with four questions she'd like to ask herself.
"My Jewish Question, My Father" on Jewish Currents
Dale Kushner, author of The Conditions of Love, explores her own Jewish identity in "My Jewish Question, My Father," a recent blog post on Jewish Currents
Anne Frank and My Birth as a Writer
For a nine-year-old in New Jersey, the confessions of a 13-year-old German girl to her diary were life-changing.
Girls at Risk: The Enigma of Resilience and What I Learn from My Characters
Dale Kushner explores how the main characters in her two novels are put at risk by their parents but discover resilience within themselves.
Writer’s Block: Nine Helpful Tips to Get Going Again
I’ve recently had the privilege of teaching several writing workshops and working with a number of talented writers. Since I have never actually taken a fiction workshop, I’m always putting my workshops together out of issues I’ve faced and cures for writing ailments that have worked for me.
Five Remedies for Writer's Envy
A close friend you cherish, a relative, your partner—someone you love and care about—wins the award, gets the job or the raise you thought was in your pocket; charms the socks off the guy you’ve adored from afar, sails for a month-long vacation—attains exactly the goodies you’ve secretly coveted.
Mother's Day 2015: Struggling with Being a Mother and a Writer
As Mother’s Day 2015 approaches, I feel called to write about a subject I’ve lived intimately, a subject I’ve explored in The Conditions of Love and is now shaping my new novel Digging To China—the conflict many women feel between their creative and domestic selves.
Embracing Vulnerability
Vulnerability. Dr. Brenė Brown, a researcher and popular TED-talker who writes about shame and vulnerability, defines the V-word as “uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure.” I concur with her definition and also her conclusion that embracing vulnerability is crucial to living a passionate, creative life.
On Writing, Climbing, and Resilience
A number of years ago, I did something I thought I’d never do: I scaled a forty-foot inflatable climbing tower, jumped into a net, and was belayed down to earth. How did this happen? I was with my daughters, one of whom was on the Outward Bound team that had set up the towers on a cross-country bike tour to raise awareness for girls Outward Bound expeditions.
Dinner with friends
Writers are often asked where they get their ideas, and that’s a good damn question.
Men respond to The Conditions of Love
People sometimes ask me who I write for. Do I have an ideal reader in mind while I’m writing? The question always surprises me.
Chaos in the Beginning
Sitting down to write today, I have a thought: art begins in chaos.
On Enchantment and My Writing
Enchantment. I hope the word sends a thrill up your spine! When was the last time your conversation turned to enchantment? Who talks about enchantment these days? That may be one of the reasons it interests me.
The Five Best Questions To Ask a Writer
Since May and the publication of the paperback edition of The Conditions of Love, I’ve been on the road visiting bookstores and talking to readers.
