The syncopated nature of freelance work means I occasionally have weeks with little work to do. So, in order for my novel in progress to stop being “in progress,” I decided to complete a rough draft by writing start to finish, 4 to 6 hours a day for two weeks. Week one = survived. Here’s [...]
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Posted 22 August 2010
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Sometimes I forget about the title of my blog, but a recent foray onto 20 Something Bloggers (which I still qualify for, barely) reminded me, and a conversation with my roommate reminded me of one proof that the uncultured heathens have not yet reclaimed the world. Nobody throws away books. We give away books to [...]
It is a fact generally observable by all that the world is filled with idiots and boors including (but not limited to) people who place perspiring beverages on antique wood surfaces, women waiting in line at the bank who declare loudly that the tellers should “stop checking their email and help customers” and individuals in [...]
University of Arizona’s writing program required a personal statement of 250 words or less. I was so proud of my triumph over this parsimonious word limit I wanted to post my essay immediately. Now that Arizona has rejected me I remain proud and find myself free to share. Enjoy: If I could just have 300 [...]
Words are like calories. You need them, but you only want to ingest fulfilling calories from protein and vitamins and beautiful lyrical description. You don’t want empty calories, like high-fructose corn syrup or pages of pointless description. Which is the problem with quotas. Quotas are like an appetite, and when you’ve got a quota staring [...]
Point to the internet this morning. I signed on half an hour ago to write this post and nearly stood up and walked away from the computer just now having forgotten to write it entirely. Back in the good old days I used to write an hour every day. For a long time I fell [...]
I’ve read a lot of great books in the past ten years, but many of those were classics written a long time ago. Here are my ten favorite of the ones actually published in the last decade. The Contortionist’s Handbook, by Craig Clevenger – though these are listed in no particular order, The Handbook is [...]
Story is free. A guy like James Cameron, and he’s only one of many, will spend millions of dollars on effects, and studios regularly spend millions on getting good acting talent, but modern movies are so slight on story that you know they don’t spend any time refining it. It is true that good storytellers [...]
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Posted 22 December 2009
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In the traditional publishing scheme, hardbacks are released first and paperback versions of the book are released later, if at all. Nobody knows when e-books (aka: the future, the apocalypse, our salvation, the devil) should be released. Some think that e-books should be released with hardcover. Others think they should be released between hardcover and [...]
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Posted 16 December 2009
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My literary crush Jonathan Lethem is showing up on a lot of top ten book lists this year with his new novel Chronic City. The book sounds pretty sweet, but one thing about it is mildly disappointing. It takes place in New York City. Doesn’t it feel sometimes as if every book takes place in [...]
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Posted 14 December 2009
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