When I set out to learn about my mother's bridge club, the Jewish octogenarians behind the matching outfits and accessories, I never expected to fall in love with them. This is the story of the ladies, their game, their gen, and the ragged path that led me back to my mother.
Beginning, middle and end. Pick your poison. For me starting is always the best. The moment I get a title or a first line in my head, I feel like a racehorse at the starting line. It’s this infusion of adrenaline and excitement. Most of the time, I don’t get far, but for the few moments before the idea fizzles, I’m my most happy. Writing is a brilliant cocktail of ego, narcissism, and the rush of making something out of nothing. It’s like a hunk of clay moving beneath your hands, a climbing wall, a pool table with balls racked. It’s a cigarette slowly burning, an empty swing with a violent back story, a pair of shoes, a bit of wind
How do you get started?
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Betsy Lerner 
I usually hear the voices of characters. Right now I have ongoing projects so all I have to do is sit down to enter into an alternate reality It’s always a relief.
How do you get started?
A title – most of the time, and/or the name of the main character. Those circle The Big Idea, which might be a moment in history or an unusual subject.
Getting to The End isn’t so bad either.
I’m a bit of a title person myself.
“…A pair of shoes, a bit of wind,” for sure. Images usually start my process, often something I’ve seen 100 times appearing in a whole new light at the beginning, middle or end.
What was your face
before you had this face,
what did you look like
before you born?
Where did you come from,
where will you go,
what was your story
before it began?
A mood comes over me, and I make up a story to either wallow or revel in it.