When I was young (like, elementary school), I spent an almost-outrageous amount of time on character development when I wrote stories. I drew pictures of what I thought the character looked like, ripped images out of magazines that reminded me of her, made lists of her favorites (food, color, TV show, band). I sketched her — Read More
What you need to know (but nobody tells you when you’re starting out)
Ira Glass, as you probably know, is the host and producer of This American Life, a weekly public radio show broadcast on more than 500 stations to about 1.7 million listeners. Ira Glass is a master storyteller, plain and simple, and he has this to say to beginning storytellers: Check out the 4-part series with — Read More
Murder your books
This is the new thing in Japan — you pay a few bucks per title to have your book collection scanned and emailed to you before it is…cremated, essentially. My question: What does Ray Bradbury think of this? The Japanese are all about conserving space. Lots of people, little island. Makes sense. When the Kindle — Read More
ePublishing: Does it really “count”?
I used to think digital publishing was sort of a cheat, a way to get around the obstacles of traditional publishing for those who get sick of the multiplying rejection letters. It wasn’t “real” publishing, in my mind. After all, my dream was to see my book, with some big publishing house’s insignia on the — Read More
The writing cave
I’ve been a fan of Molly Wizenburg for a few years, thanks to a dear friend who turned me onto her blog, Orangette. When her book, A Homemade Life, was announced, I pre-ordered it. And I wasn’t disappointed when it finally arrived on my doorstep. Her book, like her blog, is about food, but not — Read More
What do all these writers have in common?
William Styron John Keats William Faulkner Leo Tolstoy Lord Byron F. Scott Fitzgerald Edgar Allen Poe Charles Dickens Tennessee Williams Ernest Hemingway Joseph Conrad Fyodor Dostoyevsky Graham Greene Henry James Susanna Kaysen Herman Melville Sylvia Plath Anne Rice JK Rowling Amy Tan Mark Twain Virginia Woolf David Foster Wallace It has been said that all — Read More
10 most misused English words
I am guilty of misusing a few of these (don’t tell anyone). From Listverse: 10. REFUTE “Refute” means to “disprove with evidence” and yet it’s commonly used, even by professional writers, to mean “rebut” which carries a similar meaning but isn’t quite so strong, as it can also mean “argue against.” 9. INSTANT Nowadays, it’s — Read More
Writing as an act of assertion
If you haven’t read Jhumpa Lahiri’s “Trading Stories” in The New Yorker, I suggest you do it now. It’s one of those pieces that made me exhale and remember why I love writing. And, most importantly, it reminded me that I am a writer (even when I feel like a hack). This is my favorite — Read More
Advice I don’t take
Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Don Murray says the three worst pieces of advice he was ever given were: 1. If you like it, cut it out. 2. Know what you are going to say before you write it. 3. Don’t write what’s been said before. I’ve been given these gems of advice before myself and they — Read More
Quote of the month
Writers are always questioning/struggling to find/analyzing their “voice.” Whenever I’m doubtful of how authentic my characters are, I think of this quote: “Imagine yourself at your kitchen table, in your pajamas. Imagine one person you’d allow to see you that way, and write in the voice you’d use to that friend.” ~ Sandra Cisneros And — Read More