writing
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The Untidy World
“In truth, memory’s great betrayal, that it will not lie intact in wait for us, is lament enough to revisit in every generation. This is what I go to nonfiction for, the way we pick at the scab, poke our…
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A Memorandum of Ghosts
Outside my window in Chicago it is snowing. I am overlooking a back yard that looks like a New England forest. Pine trees and garden bridges, amber soil and dirty snow. Snow that only looks that way after a January…
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Book Publishing Hierarchy
We also make an exception for a list if it’s really funny, and we’re on it. Hence: Paul Bogaards’ “Hierarchy of Book Publishing: The Top 100.”
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Messing with Memoir
When my memoir went out of print, it was as if someone had thrown a stray puppy onto my doorstep. Dazed, mangy, with a tendency to pee on the rug, this orphaned book was something I couldn’t shoo away, or…
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Prompts in Your Box
Online writing community Figment has recently inaugurated Figment Daily Themes, “a free daily email service through which subscribers receive a thoughtful, compelling writing prompt five days a week.” Occasionally, prompts will come from acclaimed authors such as Curtis Sittenfeld, Aimee…
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Winter Grotto Classes
If you’re in the Bay Area, you should check out this list of upcoming writing classes and workshops at The Grotto. Winter classes begin January 17, and all students enrolled in a winter session will be eligible to read in…
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On Revelations
“When you write personally and intimately, difficult questions arise. Whose stories do we, as writers, have the right to tell? To what extent do we have the right to write about the people in our lives? What are the limits…
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Best Music for Writing
At The Village Voice, Jami Attenburg reveals 2011’s top ten pieces of music to listen to while writing, “as supplied by the authors of recent books,” so they must be effective. The list features some of our friends, including Rumpus…
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Practice Restraint
Electric Literature is asking us to show some restraint this holiday season with their Holiday Restraint Short Short Contest. Submit “a short short of 30 to 300 words, that uses each word only once” by midnight of Dec 31st. You…
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Friendly Advice
What do you do if you find yourself befriending a writer? Rebecca Rosenblum breaks it down, answering a few FAQs regarding day drinking, topics of conversation, and reading a friend’s writing. “If a writer publishes something in a journal or…
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Writing With A Pen
“For me, writing longhand is an utterly personal task where the outer world is closed off, just my thoughts and the movement of my hand across the page to keep me company. The whole process keeps me in touch with…
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What We Lost When We Lost Barbara Jean
This is the truth. Around noon I gulped a shot of tequila and then placed a chair in my closet, sat down, shut the door and put my .22 rifle in my mouth. It didn’t fit well. The scope got…