Tag Archives: publications

A Writer’s Notebook: Our Band Could Be Your Lit

This week the writer’s notebook will get delayed.  That’s not because I’m not working, but because I’m working toward something.  I’ve agreed to write a guest-blog story for Our Band Could Be Your Lit, so I’m using this week’s Notebook to work on that.  But the story won’t get posted until Sunday (and probably won’tContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: Our Band Could Be Your Lit”

New publication

A bit of news:  A short while ago–the day before my birthday, in fact–I got word from Red Fez that they wanted to publish my story “Kamikaze.”  Today, the issue went online.  It’s also chock full of other great stories and poems, so make sure to check out the whole issue. For links to someContinue reading “New publication”

Interview with Darin Bradley, author of Noise

Darin Bradley‘s apocalyptic novel Noise hit bookshelves, both physical and virtual, today. So I thought I’d ask Darin a few questions about his novel, the apocalypse, and writing in general. The resulting e-mail conversation, which has spanned the past few weeks, has turned out to be very long, which is a good thing, because DarinContinue reading “Interview with Darin Bradley, author of Noise”

The short and long of things….

I just received an e-mail telling me one of my short stories made the shortlist for finalists in the short-story category of the Faulkner Wisdom Competition (run by Pirate’s Alley Faulkner Society down in New Orleans).  Then, immediately after that, I received another e-mail that I made the semi-finals for the novella category of theContinue reading “The short and long of things….”

How to know when the writing is done

I started writing about good writing yesterday simply because it was on my mind — I’m neck-deep in three different stories right now, with two more on the sidelines, as I try to finish a story collection. But as soon as I posted it, I started thinking of a related discussion: How to know whenContinue reading “How to know when the writing is done”

How to know when the writing is good (or good enough)

When I was in grad school working on my doctorate, I took a class on the form and theory of poetry, with poet Bruce Bond. It was a fascinating course that taught me a lot, not only about poetry but also about my own approach to fiction. Bond has a way of asking provocative questionsContinue reading “How to know when the writing is good (or good enough)”

The hardest thing about writing

I’m preparing one of my novels for submission, and I’m writing a synopsis.  I hate synopses.  Like all prejudice, it’s an irrational loathing–I always feel like I’m crushing the story, stripping away the beauty and leaving just a skeleton, and I can’t help but think that if people want to know what a book isContinue reading “The hardest thing about writing”

I wish I was cool enough to quote LL Cool J

I’ve said in previous posts that I’m a bit of a number cruncher.  But there’s one number that I always avoided crunching:  the ratio of my submissions to my rejections.  I know without looking that the number is high.  It’s bound to be–competition is fierce, and rejection is practically as much a part of theContinue reading “I wish I was cool enough to quote LL Cool J”