On Monday, I was explaining the concept of NaNoWriMo to my students, and they asked what I was writing. So I told them about my book idea and the “table of contents” I’d come up with, and one student asked me, “How do you write from a title?” But before I could answer, another studentContinue reading “More notes on my NaNoWriMo table of contents”
Category Archives: writing
NaNoWriMo in a comfortable sweater
I’m starting NaNoWriMo today, so I figure I ought to get comfortable. I have a lot of writing ahead of me. This is a sweater my mother-in-law gave me a few years ago. At the time, I was living in Wisconsin and renting a duplex from a wonderful couple who knew I taught at theContinue reading “NaNoWriMo in a comfortable sweater”
A Writer’s Notebook: NaNoWriMo table of contents
In just a few days, National Novel Writing Month will begin. So of course I’m gearing up. I have a lot of explaining to do about what you’ll see on the “notebook page” below, but I don’t want to front-load all this. Better just to give you the list, and then I’ll explain everything below. ToContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: NaNoWriMo table of contents”
How to win the Nobel Prize (by eating a puppy)
A couple of weeks ago, the Nobel committee in Stockholm announced that Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer had won this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature. Congrats, Tomas Transtromer! But apparently I’m in the minority over here in the US, because Americans in general have been booing the Nobel Prize for a few years now, ever since Horace Engdahl, theContinue reading “How to win the Nobel Prize (by eating a puppy)”
Writer’s Notebook: Coffee story (with apologies to Orhan Pamuk)
This is not done. It’s probably not even good. But it’s been an interesting exercise. But I’ll explain more later. I can tell you only a little about the man and woman before they entered my shop. They both were new, you see, and so much of what I know about them I know onlyContinue reading “Writer’s Notebook: Coffee story (with apologies to Orhan Pamuk)”
Writer’s Notebook: Holiday story
I’m sort of semi-cheating this week. I am working on an exercise, but the story I’m working on will eventually show up online as a story, so I’d rather keep it under wraps while I work on it. Still, I want to offer something along the same lines here, so behold, a quick excerpt fromContinue reading “Writer’s Notebook: Holiday story”
Why Poet Hound and Hosho McCreesh rule the Web today
A nice surprise today: I just found out I won a drawing for a copy of Hosho McCreesh’s poetry collection For All These Wretched, Beautiful, & Insignificant Things So Uselessly & Carelessly Destroyed. The drawing took place over at Poet Hound, who are awesome people in general but have become extra-special to me now that they’reContinue reading “Why Poet Hound and Hosho McCreesh rule the Web today”
Writer’s Notebook: a few thoughts on writing
This week, I have one of my classes writing about a personal belief. It’s going to lead them to a personal essay, so what I’m about to do is a pretty poor example of what they’re up to, but when I began thinking of topics I might tackle in order to write along with them,Continue reading “Writer’s Notebook: a few thoughts on writing”
New fiction from Riley Michael Parker
So, Portland author and generally cool guy (you should see the reception this dude gets at readings) Riley Michael Parker has released his novel, A Plague of Wolves and Women. And seriously, that should be all you need to rush out and buy the book, because with a title like that, how could you goContinue reading “New fiction from Riley Michael Parker”
Faulkner-Wisdom 2011
Last year, I was thrilled to find myself in a couple of finalist lists for the Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society’s Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Competition. So this year, I took a chance and sent in a new story, “Curl Up and Burn.” I’ve been waiting all summer for the results, and now I’m thrilled once againContinue reading “Faulkner-Wisdom 2011”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 