Bill Roorbach has announced on his blog, Bill and Dave’s Cocktail Hour, that his new novel, The High Side, is scheduled to appear in print next spring. I can’t tell you how excited I am by this: I’ve long been a big fan of Bill — his writing but also his nature, because he’s oneContinue reading “New fiction from Bill Roorbach”
Category Archives: writing
A Writer’s Notebook: “mentor texts”
I think I might accidentally have started a new novel. It doesn’t look like much in this exercise, I admit, but believe me, it’s frighteningly large inside my brain. I don’t have time for this right now, frankly, and I’m going to have to put this on hold for a while (I might save itContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: “mentor texts””
Ask an author: Lori Ann Bloomfield
My friend Lori Ann Bloomfield, of The Last River Child fame and author of that Elvis story I liked to a while back, is opening up the floodgates to reader questions over at her First Line blog. Got a burning question about writing, reading, or publishing? Go visit her blog and drop her a lineContinue reading “Ask an author: Lori Ann Bloomfield”
Small stone, Vol. 2, #7
The fading echo of the muezzin’s adhan blurs into the rising songs of birds awakened from their roosts in the minarets.
A Writer’s Notebook: dream journal
I can’t explain why, but I woke up with this in my head: Like everyone else, the caricaturist had good days and bad days. On good days, the people would laugh and clap their hands, touch his shoulder, would point to their hairdos or their cocked grins and say, “Oh, that’s me exactly! That’s meContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: dream journal”
11-11: Literary magazine review (Annalemma)
Part of my 11-11 reading list includes literary journals and magazines, and because I want to support them as much as I can (I rely on them for publications, after all!), I’ve decided to try to read at least one full issue of a different magazine each month. But it’s fairly difficult to do thatContinue reading “11-11: Literary magazine review (Annalemma)”
Small stone, Vol. 2, #6: SPECIAL JAPAN POST
I wanted to write a haiku today, for Japan. But nothing I could write would ever feel sufficient enough, or delicate enough, or helpful enough. Then I found this video post from Jenn, an American teaching in Japan, and her words are excellent. Better still, she offers links and suggestions for ways to help JapanContinue reading “Small stone, Vol. 2, #6: SPECIAL JAPAN POST”
New publication(s)
Some publications news: I have two new stories in the March issue of Red Fez, “Still Alive” and “Dream with Enough Conviction.” You might recognize “Dream with Enough Conviction”: an earlier draft of it appeared here about ten months ago, as a Writer’s Notebook entry on music and fiction. And you might recognize Red Fez,Continue reading “New publication(s)”
A Writer’s Notebook: Description (from high school!)
This is a bit embarrassing, but what the hell — the essence of exercises is to attempt to write, and sometimes the results can be ugly. Besides, I have the defense that I wrote this almost twenty years ago, when I was just some high school kid who didn’t know anything about anything. I awokeContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: Description (from high school!)”
Small stone, Vol. 2, #5
Watching the street cleaner scoop up paper cups and faded wrappers, one smooth sweep of his long-handled dust pan, I remember when I cleaned houses and gas stations and grocery stores for a living. And I realize I can no longer do those things. I have lost the skills. I have developed new skills toContinue reading “Small stone, Vol. 2, #5”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 