Rereading Munro's Silence

I can admire her artistry and appreciate what I learned from it, but I’ll always understand her stories as a way of processing her silence, and often excusing it.

Sara SchaffJuly 11, 2024Alice Munro, Andrea Skinner, AI, ai, separating the art from the artist, nobel prize, chatgpt, Munro, CanLit, art, writing, fictionComment

In Praise of Doing What You Love Forever

It wasn’t just McKellen’s performance as Falstaff that I found mesmerizing, it was his dedication to the work. The man is 85 and could have long ago retired from stage and screen, living on the windfall of his Gandalf fame

Sara SchaffJune 23, 2024Sir Ian McKellen, The Player Kings, London, West End, Henry IV, Shakespeare, DedicationComment

I’m Crying Again, and I Don't Want to Stop

I worry that these last four years have only been an island, a little life raft, from which we could see the depths of devastation around the world but not be drowned, not yet.

Sara SchaffMay 21, 2024vote, crying, hope, four years, democracy, feeling, compassion, biden, 2024 Election, 2016, gaza, immigrationComment

Lunar Writing

I had no expectations, but on the day of the total eclipse, something shifted for me, creatively speaking.

Sara SchaffMay 5, 2024lunar eclipse, writing, writing while waiting, novel on submission, art, inspirationComment

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

The narrator’s singular objective—to learn—gives each sentence a weighted urgency I feel in my body as I read; her interior life is as active and alive as her physical life has been limited and stilted.

Fleeting Days

I call myself middle-aged now, although my tween daughter helpfully informed me that, technically, I am “way past middle-aged,” since life expectancy for women in the U.S. is 79, and I’ll be turning 47 soon.

Sara SchaffMarch 31, 2024Middle Age, Aging, Art, Life, Raising Daughters

The Age of Sincerity: a Blog about Writing, Art, & Politics