A Writer’s Notebook: one-sentence stories

The other day, some friends of mine and I were celebrating a new story by a writer friend of ours, Riley Schultz. Which is nothing new — I am lucky to know enough writers that I get to celebrate new fiction quite frequently. But what makes Riley’s story particularly noteworthy is that it is onlyContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: one-sentence stories”

Not-so-new publication

Back in the spring of 2010, I published a story in the online literary magazine Temenos. Later, they decided to select from their spring and fall issues to produce a small print anthology for that year, but time and budgets being what they are, it took a while to finish the project. I’d quite forgottenContinue reading “Not-so-new publication”

New fiction from Amos Magliocco

I love promoting the work of people I know, but here in the summer months most of my short-fiction friends suffer a dry spell of publications. Such is the nature of what we do: many of the venues that publish us are tied to academic institutions and therefore are tied to the academic calendar. SoContinue reading “New fiction from Amos Magliocco”

A Writer’s Notebook: News stories

Believe it or not, this is a true story. Sort of. I remember studying H. P. Lovecraft in college, though at the time we studied him as literature, not gospel. I was enchanted by his name, Lovecraft, as though it was a commandment: here is the craft of writing fiction, and you shall adore it.Continue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: News stories”

A Writer’s Notebook: life study / character notes

This is a true story. For now. The taxi driver’s name was Muhammad. He is from Pakistan. He has warm, kind eyes, something between hazel and blue in the dim passing light of the street lamps on the highway. A faint downturn at the outer edges, where his dark olive skin creases in fans fromContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: life study / character notes”

A Writer’s Notebook: Mapping a story

This past Tuesday, I visited Zayed University to speak to an education class studying youth literature and preparing to write young adult stories of their own. (I’ll write a fuller post on this experience later this weekend.) We talked about books they were reading and how they might begin to write their own stories. TheContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: Mapping a story”

New fiction from Bill Roorbach

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”

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”

Reading and writing: a beginning, and no end in sight!

Just wanted to quickly share two blog posts, which by happy accident I happened to read almost back to back today. The first is from Odds ‘N Ends (aka Mary’s Little Blog), in which a mother recounts helping her son learn to read and write. More importantly, the post focuses on the first time herContinue reading “Reading and writing: a beginning, and no end in sight!”