Author Archives: Samuel Snoek-Brown

Feeling thankful for my students

I held classes on Wednesday. At our community college, we’re on a quarter system and only have ten weeks or so per course, and in a writing class, that’s never enough, so we need to use all the days we can. Of course, the day before Thanksgiving, many of my students understandably take off to visit familyContinue reading “Feeling thankful for my students”

NaNoWriMo 2015: revising without revising

It’s been a while since I’ve posted updates on my NaNoWriMo. That’s because it’s been a busy month, with a lot of side obligations I’ve been fulfilling. I judged a literary contest, I blurbed a friend’s book, I did a couple of readings, I wrote an essay a magazine solicited. It’s also been a busy month of myContinue reading “NaNoWriMo 2015: revising without revising”

Allow me to show you Where There Is Ruin

I am thrilled to announce that my fiction chapbook, Where There Is Ruin, has been accepted for publication at Red Bird Chapbooks! I’m a big fan of Red Bird’s work, and this new chapbook is especially exciting for me because I get to be part of their impressive roster of authors and poets, including my friends MatthewContinue reading “Allow me to show you Where There Is Ruin”

NaNoWriMo 2015: plot, structure, shape

I struggle with plot. In grade school, I learned that plot was just another word for story. Later, I learned a more mechanical version, that plot was the arrangement of events in a narrative. It is the order in which things happen, and it has a shape. Mostly it looks like an arc — often a sharp one, likeContinue reading “NaNoWriMo 2015: plot, structure, shape”

NaNoWriMo 2015: inspiration

A few months back, while looking through some old family miscellany, I had an idea for a new novel. This month, I’m writing that novel for NaNoWriMo. But unlike in years past, I’m trying to avoid reading much of anything while I’m writing the book — I have a pretty clear narrative voice and, as ofContinue reading “NaNoWriMo 2015: inspiration”

Wordstock 2015

I’m still earning my Portland literary street cred, y’all. Case in point: somehow, even though I’ve been in Portland for a handful of years now, this year was my first Wordstock. For folks not in the know, Wordstock is Portland’s massive literary festival. Or, one of them, anyway: just last month, we had the Pacific NorthwestContinue reading “Wordstock 2015”

The Jersey Devil ate all the Halloween candy and is ready for Thanksgiving now

Gang, the November issue of Jersey Devil Press is out, and it’s a beauty. Are you into creation mythology built on severed fingers? Have a taste for bodily invasive noodles? Feel like more heartbreaking love stories ought to involve geophagia? Harvest many organs? Like to hail Satan? Yeah, we got all that. Plus the fun sugar-skulled bulldog artContinue reading “The Jersey Devil ate all the Halloween candy and is ready for Thanksgiving now”

Against my better judgment: NaNoWriMo 2015

I don’t know quite why I’m getting myself into this, except that I don’t know what else to do. I’ve had an idea for a novel for a couple of months now, but I haven’t done anything with it because I’m still in the middle of writing a different book. When it comes to bigContinue reading “Against my better judgment: NaNoWriMo 2015”

Book porn, autumn 2015

I don’t think I’ve posted any book porn since I brought back my tremendous stack of books from Sewanee more than two months ago. And yeah, I’ve barely made a dent in that stack but in the meantime, I have indeed still been collecting more books. The backlog, it is impressive. Anyway, here are some of theContinue reading “Book porn, autumn 2015”