Tag Archives: writing

New publication

Just a quick note to say I have a new publication online. Something like two years ago, a friend of mine in Wisconsin, Russ Brickey, had the idea to start a regional literary magazine, which he decided to call Driftless Review after the geological region where our little town lived.  He also kindly enlisted myContinue reading “New publication”

Patrons of writing and teaching: Anansi

Since February is Black History month in the US, I thought I’d write about another of my writing patrons, Anansi the Spider, King of Stories.  I first learned of Anansi from my college friend Moses Elango, who is from Cameroon, but many people encounter Anansi long before their college years: Anansi is a common figureContinue reading “Patrons of writing and teaching: Anansi”

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place*

Just about every book on writing you’re likely to ever pick up will begin with this advice: Find a place to write. It’s strange advice, in some ways, because the most important thing about writing should always be the writing — the words themselves — which means it shouldn’t matter where you write or even howContinue reading “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place*”

Good-bye, Mr. Salinger

J. D. Salinger is dead.  We can’t say the world will miss him, because we’ve been missing him for almost 40 years.  And if Hemingway’s example is anything to go by, I hope we never do see the novels he never intended us to read, for the sake of his legacy.  But he did leaveContinue reading “Good-bye, Mr. Salinger”

Patrons of writing and teaching: Thoth

Among the many, many files on my computer, I have a collection of seemingly frivolous notes and scribbles related to writing, which I insist are vital to what I do and will someday, surely, come in handy.  Mostly, I’m wrong.  But every now and then, as I’m cleaning out my files and tossing the listsContinue reading “Patrons of writing and teaching: Thoth”

Compassion in action

My friend Lori Ann Bloomfield, over on her blog First Line, has posted an excellent comment on how writers can help not only Haitians but all human beings, simply through the act of writing.  By writing more human characters, she says, we come to understand our fellow human beings better, and it’s a very smallContinue reading “Compassion in action”

Research wrap-up: More resources than you ever wanted (but not nearly as many as you’ll need)

For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page.  (UPDATED with new links!) As I said in the first post of this series, there’s a lot of advice out there. I’ve just hit some highlights that have intrigued me over the years, but if you want to push further and see whatContinue reading “Research wrap-up: More resources than you ever wanted (but not nearly as many as you’ll need)”

Research tip #6: Marbling

For more on researching for fiction, go to the main research page.  So now you have all your research done and you’re ready to get back to the writing. But you’re writing fiction here, not a research paper—so how do you use this research you’ve done? Sometimes the answer is easy: you were looking forContinue reading “Research tip #6: Marbling”