A few weeks ago, we went to Kalispell, thirty miles away, to hear Anne Lamott speak in the new performance hall. I’d reread Bird by Bird last fall, so it was great fun to see her in person, though her approach to writing is familiar.

She said many memorable things — she’s funnier than heck — but what stuck with me were her emphasis that to write (to create), we need to “stay open for business.” Stay open to what you see, hear, and remember. That’s where the ideas come from.

When I had lunch with my suspense writer pal Christine Carbo the next week, she said what had most struck her was Lamott’s urge to us to “unclench.” To breathe into the tight spots that sometimes develop around our creative work — you know what yours are — and let grace, however you define it, unclench you.

Good advice, and I’m happy I can share it with you.