A long time ago, I accidentally found an amazing little collection of short stories that felt unlike anything I’d read before–and in the best possible way. The book was Invitations to a Bridge Burning, by David Maizenberg, and they profoundly changed the way I think about fiction. I had by that time been through enoughContinue reading “New fiction by David Maizenberg”
Category Archives: music
Still MORE writing and music
With all the posts I’ve been writing lately about the influence of music on writing, I simply have to share this recent discovery: It’s a song-sharing site called Stereomood, but the idea is not simply to share songs. (The site is a streaming site, not a download site, so I’m sharing this because it actsContinue reading “Still MORE writing and music”
Don’t shush! Make some noise in the library!
I know this has been making the rounds, but after my font-nerd post back in March and my research post on marrying a librarian, I’d feel remiss if I didn’t post this outstanding video of librarians doing a cover of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.” Sure, the production values aren’t quite as professional-looking as the font-nerdContinue reading “Don’t shush! Make some noise in the library!”
Music & Literature Part I: Experimentation
a guest blog by Ryan Werner A while back, I wrote a post about how music influences my writing, which led to not one but two Writer’s Notebook exercises about writing from music. But I said in that initial post that my relationship with music is purely as a listener–I don’t have any experience withContinue reading “Music & Literature Part I: Experimentation”
A Writer’s Notebook: Music and flash fiction
In the wake of last week’s Writer’s Notebook, my friend Ryan Werner sent me an e-mail with a challenge: Do it again. And this time, make it complete — in other words, write a piece of flash fiction. The actual exercise was more complicated than that (as usual, I’ll explain it below), but it wasContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: Music and flash fiction”
A Writer’s Notebook: Music and freewriting
I’ll explain the exercise more fully below, but, as I did with the “1,000 words” exercise, I need to mention this up front: I’m writing while listening to Edvard Grieg’s “Peer Gynt, Suite No. 1, Op. 46: Aase’s Death.” I can’t upload an audio clip of the piece without violating copyright, but you can hearContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: Music and freewriting”
[Music] is the liquid that we’re all dissolved in*
Some writers cannot write except in silence. Some, actually, need specific kinds of silence: crickets, white noise, one of those nature-sound machines, wind in the trees. But silence all the same. I am not one of those writers. Sure, if I fall into a story and lose all track of my physical surroundings, I canContinue reading “[Music] is the liquid that we’re all dissolved in*”
Nerd Dance Party
For everyone who has ever done document layout, web design, or just procrastinatory formatting on their story that’s getting nowhere: We love fonts. Even if it’s bold italic. Thanks to my friend Darin Bradley and the gang over at Farrago’s F.M.I. for posting this back in December. I might never have found it without them. Continue reading “Nerd Dance Party”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 