nonfiction

The tops of the chocolate pudding have developed a rubbery layer, as they will, when they cool. That rubbery layer is my favorite part...

When I write in my journal, every morning, with coffee, sometimes the writing heats up, feels like it’s about to deliver something...

It lives inside me, no one but myself to corroborate what I saw. Until now, when at last I have committed that moment to the page...

Where I go on the web to read nonfiction that expands my understanding of what essays are and what they can do.

...the progression of Lillian’s dementia is there, just outside, and I have to encounter this slow, arduous and mysterious passage. Lillian was a painter, as I am.

In her 58th post, Helena marvels at her late summer garden and shares some of her students' publications.

In her 57th post, Helena grapples first with this column’s deadline, then with a transformative experience of both grief and love.

For those interested in different ways to structure personal essays, try out segmentation with an exercise by Anne Panning.

In her 56th post, Helena shares an exercise on building characters, along with memories of her beloved sister.

In her 54th post, Helena shares some fragments of nonfiction stories from her works-in-progress binder.