Today’s exercise is going to be short and relatively uncreative. I’m polishing up a story collection I recently finished, and while most of the stories are published, finished, or well on their way, one is still very much an ugly draft, so I’ve decided to go over that weakest story and do some broad revision.Continue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: Revision checklist”
Tag Archives: writers
Photo blog 22
Many thanks to my old college friend, Erin Hostetler, who drove me out to Concord in the snow to see Walden, the graves of the Alcotts, Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau, and this, the house in which Hawthorne lived and wrote.
A Writer’s Notebook: “Uninvited Guests”
Like my early Writer’s Notebook entry “1,000 words,” this exercise requires I post a picture. This picture, though, comes with a title and a caption, which I’ve included with the pic at the right (for the full citation, see the end of the story). Children’s lit fans might recognize the title of this post and/orContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: “Uninvited Guests””
Last lines
We writers pay a lot of attention to first lines. They’re supremely important — for the reader, they are the opening impression, the first glimpse not only at the story but also at the style of the story and even (dare I say it in this age of modern criticism) at the author. For theContinue reading “Last lines”
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”
Noise, by Darin Bradley
A friend of mine is releasing his first novel in a couple of weeks, an apocalyptic novel called Noise. I haven’t read it yet, but by all accounts, it’s awesome. (I have read the teaser text on the publisher’s website–it certainly looks awesome!) Darin and I are bouncing back and forth on an interview aboutContinue reading “Noise, by Darin Bradley”
One tragedy in academia
Among my various pet causes (promoting nonviolence, encouraging the creative writing of kids and teens, supporting increased awareness about breast cancer), one of the most recent for me is bullying. Usually, we associate bullying with the schoolyard, and when the news reports on bullying (and it has been reporting on it more in recent years,Continue reading “One tragedy in academia”
Score!
A week ago, I wrote a quick post asking you all to think good things for the author of Literary Rejections on Display, who was this close to landing an agent. Well, the well-wishing worked, folks! Crack open a bottle of whatever you please and join in the celebrations. This is a victory for usContinue reading “Score!”
A Writer’s Notebook: The great outdoors
This is a fairly old-school, simple exercise, but it’s one I keep returning to again and again. But as usual, more on that below. I’ve never seen the skies in other vast states, like, say, Wyoming or Montana, but I’ve seen skies in California, skies in New York, skies in Wisconsin and Florida. And itContinue reading “A Writer’s Notebook: The great outdoors”
Accruing the karma
If you’re as big a fan of Literary Rejections on Display as I am, you’ve probably been following with some excitement the unfolding good news for our anonymous blogger: Over the last several weeks, he/she has been getting not just a nibble but a hard tug on the line for a novel she/he has beenContinue reading “Accruing the karma”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 