I figured folks might find this post useful, so I thought I’d go ahead and write it before I get to work. Yes, you’re reading that right. It’s 10:30 at night and I’m just now getting to the writing. The plan today was to take the morning off — we had some errands to runContinue reading “Winter writing retreat, day 4”
Category Archives: writing
Throwback Thursday: the very first words of Hagridden
I was digging through old files looking for notes I might use in my new novel, and I stumbled upon my old three-ring binder of Hagridden notes, all those articles and ideas I’d been compiling in the few years between my first idea for the book and my first draft of it. The binder mostlyContinue reading “Throwback Thursday: the very first words of Hagridden”
Winter writing retreat, day 3
I’m taking a short break from my writing retreat. Yes, I know, it’s 9:30 at night and I ought to be wrapping up, but I’ve always been a late writer, and given a free schedule — or other demands on my time — this is when I usually work best. I have to make myself writeContinue reading “Winter writing retreat, day 3”
Winter writing retreat, day 2
Today was a nice, long day of writing. I shut my study door a little after 9 am and didn’t come out again til lunch. Then I was back in the study around noon and I kept at it until my wife invited me on a short walk around the neighborhood at 4 pm. Which was aContinue reading “Winter writing retreat, day 2”
Winter writing retreat, day 1
My grading finished and my weekend over, I spent the last hours of Sunday night planning my writing time for this week. I say all the time how I’m not usually one for rigid writing schedules, but when I’m doing a writing retreat — even an informal one at home — having a schedule helpsContinue reading “Winter writing retreat, day 1”
Zen and the art of brutality; or, How can a Buddhist write such violence?
A lot of people read my fiction and tell me something like, “Wait. I thought you were Buddhist?” Even friends are sometimes surprised that I am (by intention if not always by action) so committed to compassion and nonviolence and the pursuit of enlightenment, yet I write such cruel characters, such violent events, such aContinue reading “Zen and the art of brutality; or, How can a Buddhist write such violence?”
A winter writing retreat
I’ve written before about how I don’t typically stick to a rigid daily writing routine. I generally work my writing into a crammed and constantly changing schedule of teaching, editing, committee work, housework, pet care, meditation, errands . . . . But I’ve also written before about how wonderful it is to have the time toContinue reading “A winter writing retreat”
IU Southeast Writing Contest Winners, 2014
Last year, I had the honor of judging the fiction section of the Indiana University Southeast Writing Contest. It was a wonderful experience reading such talented writers, and I was doubly honored this year when those students invited me to campus to read from Hagridden and give a talk on fiction writing. But then theContinue reading “IU Southeast Writing Contest Winners, 2014”
Buy Hagridden and support military families
I have two dedications in my Civil War novel, Hagridden: the first is to my wife, the second is to “every civilian who ever lived through a war or is living through one now.” In public appearances, I tend to tell people that my novel is about the people that war leaves behind. Both of which areContinue reading “Buy Hagridden and support military families”
Our own worst nightmares: wrestling with violence in (my) fiction
One Tuesday this past June, I was planning to run a few errands, do a little grading, and then settle in for a long afternoon of proofreading my Civil War novel, Hagridden. At the time, it was still a couple months from publication, and I was going through the last edits in the proof copy.Continue reading “Our own worst nightmares: wrestling with violence in (my) fiction”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 