Need to do some last-minute holiday shopping? Time is short, driving hurts the planet, holiday shoppers are crazy. Even you — shopping makes us all crazy. So go online and order an e-book! I’m not promoting Amazon’s Kindle, by the way (I don’t own any kind of e-reader), and if you can find other e-bookContinue reading “Last-minute holiday shopping: e-books!”
Category Archives: writing
Not-really-new publication
About a month ago, I was thrilled to have my story “Barefoot in the Guadalupe” appear in Red Dirt Review. (Editor John G. Hartness was extremely kind in his comments on the story, which made the publication all the cooler.) Now, the collected issue of Red Dirt Review — Volume 2 — is available in print orContinue reading “Not-really-new publication”
Speaking truth to agents
So, a few days ago over at one of my favorite blogs, Literary Rejections on Display, there was a hell of a conversation going about literary agents and how we writers should approach them. Not in the “please publish my novel” way, pitching your work and begging for acceptance; we’re talking about talking back toContinue reading “Speaking truth to agents”
A Writer’s Notebook: photo poem
It’s a photo exercise, but unlike previous versions, this one is a poem. And I have a reason for doing it. But, as usual, first the photo (this time an animated gif!): We stood in the street and watched the roof burn. The ridgepole a perfect line of flames, reaching like children for candy atContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: photo poem”
A Writer’s Notebook: poem from an old notebook (Retro #1)
I’m in a strange place this week. Recuperating from NaNoWriMo, wrapping up a fall term of teaching and grading final exams, and warming up my design skills for my first run as Jersey Devil Press‘s new production editor. So this week, I’m digging into my huge stack of physical pen-and-paper notebooks and posting an oldContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: poem from an old notebook (Retro #1)”
Big news for teen authors!
Today, One Story magazine, one of the finest, most respected voices in literary publishing, announced that they are launching an offshoot just for teen authors, One Teen Story. I’ve been a huge fan of One Story since I first met publisher Hannah Tinti at an AWP conference some six years ago. And I’ve been aContinue reading “Big news for teen authors!”
11-11: Southern fiction (Christopher Cook)
I began my love affair with Southern fiction, as most of us do, with Faulkner, but I didn’t get serious about studying the genre until I started reading Tom Franklin. His then-distinctive blend of gritty blue-collar stories set in a modern but familiar American South, a style of writing Franklin likes to call “Industrial Gothic,”Continue reading “11-11: Southern fiction (Christopher Cook)”
11-11: Contemporary poetry (Jerry Bradley)
Back in April, I had the good fortune to attend this year’s annual joint conference of the Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association. This conference is a perennial favorite of mine, thanks in part to my association with Jerry Bradley, who chairs the creative writing area of the conference, but I hadn’t beenContinue reading “11-11: Contemporary poetry (Jerry Bradley)”
A Writer’s Notebook: NaNoWriMo 2011, the recap
So, it’s finished. A final total of 51,557 words, most of them bad, most of them destined for the trash bin. But that’s what NaNoWriMo is all about: pounding out words no matter how bad they are, without attachment to what you write because you’re more likely than not to cut it all anyway. What’s interestingContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: NaNoWriMo 2011, the recap”
A Writer’s Notebook: NaNoWriMo 2011, week 4
I’m behind schedule, thanks to grading, editing, and Thanksgiving. And with more grading coming my way, I’m going to be hard-pressed to break 50k by the end of November 30. But I’m determined, and with a lot more ideas running around my head, I’m not terribly worried about making the deadline. The weird bit, though,Continue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: NaNoWriMo 2011, week 4”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 