Author Archives: Samuel Snoek-Brown

More help for Haiti

The links just keep coming, thanks especially to my friends Rima Abunasser, Beth Davidson, and Diana Pearson.  I’m re-posting the list from yesterday, but some links are to organizations and some to lists of organizations, so I’m listing the lists first: Charity Navigator (this is a kind of clearing house for reliable, reputable charities; itContinue reading “More help for Haiti”

Research tip #2: Know your limits

For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page.  Sing it with me now: “To everything there is a season . . . A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to research, andContinue reading “Research tip #2: Know your limits”

Research tip #1: Marry a librarian

For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page.  I’ve been hanging out in libraries since I was a kid, and I was a regular at my town’s public library during high school. My first year of college, I was commuting 40 minutes to school and had a huge gap between classesContinue reading “Research tip #1: Marry a librarian”

Re-researching fiction: The new, expanded edition!

For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page.  A while ago I wrote a blog entry on the research I was doing for my NaNoWriMo novel, a twisted little Civil War novel set in southwestern Louisiana during the last of the war years. At the time I was just counting someContinue reading “Re-researching fiction: The new, expanded edition!”

Counting beans (now with more numbers!)

I’m not one for math–anything more complicated than my checkbook and I break into a sweat, and even the checkbook is a chore I’d much prefer to avoid–but I have always been fascinated by numbers.  Ask me to prove anything with them and I’ll freak out and slip into a coma, but ask me toContinue reading “Counting beans (now with more numbers!)”

Is there anybody out there? Sensory deprivation and creative writing

I’m currently (and rapidly) revising my second novel, which also served at my dissertation and which is set in an afterlife, with a dead narrator and a whole mess of dead characters.  The harderst part, I think, is the opening, the first third of the book, because at heart the novel is a roadtrip adventureContinue reading “Is there anybody out there? Sensory deprivation and creative writing”

And now, a word from our sponsor: Some of Jennifer’s thoughts on Vienna

The list from the listmaker. I love making lists, yes, but I don’t feel the pressure Sam feels of having “the” list. Maybe that’s why I like Family Feud so much – it’s all about the list that’s true in the moment. So looking back on our Vienna trip, what are the things/events/activities that standContinue reading “And now, a word from our sponsor: Some of Jennifer’s thoughts on Vienna”

Vienna: final thoughts (almost)

Day 7 and final thoughts: We woke early our last day in order to enjoy a full breakfast and take our leisurely time getting out to the airport. On our way into the city, aboard Vienna’s CAT train, we’d flopped wearily into the nearest seat and leaned against the windows to watch the countryside flashContinue reading “Vienna: final thoughts (almost)”