The last time my family made the five-hour road trip to Galveston Island (a.k.a. The Playground of the South), we didn’t get much playtime. Instead, we spent two solid days in the cavernous Moody Gardens Convention Center waiting for the few precious minutes my eldest and most expensive daughter would take the floor to compete with her high school dance team, usually when I was sprinting back from the men’s room.
This time, though, my wife had a three-day business conference, […]

Writers often talk about being in the zone to write. Setting aside or grabbing snippets of time to get words on the page. We empathize with fellow writers about managing real lives and our writing lives.
When I write a novel, no matter what the story is, I’m in the zone until the first draft is finished. Whether in the car (I wrote a chapter between Homer and Anchorage while driving through wildfire smoke), at the cabin, […]

(Editor’s Note: Bruce Ferber is the editor of the anthology The Way We Work: On the Job in Hollywood; a novelist; and an Emmy-nominated comedy writer and producer whose credits include Bosom Buddies, Growing Pains, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Coach, Dan vs. and Home Improvement, where he served as executive producer and showrunner. In 2014, he keynoted the Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop.)
Q: What are the origins of The Way We Work: On The Job In Hollywood? […]

Many teens take a significant step toward adulthood when they get behind the wheel (and stereo volume controls) of their own vehicles.  My eldest and most expensive daughter recently reached this milestone when my wife and I purchased her a pre-owned 2018 Nissan Altima for her sixteenth birthday.  She specifically requested “glacier white”–because plain white would suggest we were simply providing her with a practical mode of transport, rather than a lit ride to impress her squad when she pulls up to spill tea about a dank snack she thinks is the GOAT. […]