I’m taking a short break from my writing retreat. Yes, I know, it’s 9:30 at night and I ought to be wrapping up, but I’ve always been a late writer, and given a free schedule — or other demands on my time — this is when I usually work best. I have to make myself writeContinue reading “Winter writing retreat, day 3”
Tag Archives: writing
Winter writing retreat, day 2
Today was a nice, long day of writing. I shut my study door a little after 9 am and didn’t come out again til lunch. Then I was back in the study around noon and I kept at it until my wife invited me on a short walk around the neighborhood at 4 pm. Which was aContinue reading “Winter writing retreat, day 2”
Winter writing retreat, day 1
My grading finished and my weekend over, I spent the last hours of Sunday night planning my writing time for this week. I say all the time how I’m not usually one for rigid writing schedules, but when I’m doing a writing retreat — even an informal one at home — having a schedule helpsContinue reading “Winter writing retreat, day 1”
Zen and the art of brutality; or, How can a Buddhist write such violence?
A lot of people read my fiction and tell me something like, “Wait. I thought you were Buddhist?” Even friends are sometimes surprised that I am (by intention if not always by action) so committed to compassion and nonviolence and the pursuit of enlightenment, yet I write such cruel characters, such violent events, such aContinue reading “Zen and the art of brutality; or, How can a Buddhist write such violence?”
A winter writing retreat
I’ve written before about how I don’t typically stick to a rigid daily writing routine. I generally work my writing into a crammed and constantly changing schedule of teaching, editing, committee work, housework, pet care, meditation, errands . . . . But I’ve also written before about how wonderful it is to have the time toContinue reading “A winter writing retreat”
Our own worst nightmares: wrestling with violence in (my) fiction
One Tuesday this past June, I was planning to run a few errands, do a little grading, and then settle in for a long afternoon of proofreading my Civil War novel, Hagridden. At the time, it was still a couple months from publication, and I was going through the last edits in the proof copy.Continue reading “Our own worst nightmares: wrestling with violence in (my) fiction”
Positive words
So, as promised, I ran the exercise by my basic writing class. In my research class, I took a different track and explained that while the Ferguson situation isn’t exactly within the purview of our class, and they really ought to be addressing this in a sociology class or a criminology class, we are in aContinue reading “Positive words”
I don’t know what else to do but write
I have so much to say on the Ferguson situation right now. I almost typed “the Mike Brown situation,” and we shouldn’t forget how this started. We shouldn’t forget who lost his life, or his family, or his friends. I then almost typed “the grand jury decision,” but this is so much bigger than themContinue reading “I don’t know what else to do but write”
Free ebook on self-publishing
Last week, I met with a creative writing class in Salem, Oregon, to talk writing and publishing and Hagridden. A few of the students were interested in my experience with “traditional publishing” (short answer: sunnyoutside press and Columbus Press have been GREAT to me!), but I began my reply by explaining that, actually, “traditional publishing”Continue reading “Free ebook on self-publishing”
Reading from Hagridden at Chemeketa Writes
Yesterday, I drove down I-5 in the rain to Salem, Oregon, where I joined students, faculty, and community members at Chemeketa Community College for their Chemeketa Writes program. They’d invited me to read from my novel Hagridden. Almost a year ago, on November 12, I did almost exactly the same thing, except at the time, HagriddenContinue reading “Reading from Hagridden at Chemeketa Writes”
Samuel Snoek-Brown 