The two books that made me dream of becoming a writer were Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. So the news I read this morning in a Publishers Weekly email made me squee: a new l’Engle book is coming! It's an adult short story … [Read more...]
Paddling your Bathtub into London: How Great Stories End
I taught a master class on narrative endings at a writers' gathering this weekend, and promised to share my notes here. They are just my notes, which may or may not be helpful to anyone who did not attend the lecture. With that caveat: PADDLING YOUR BATHTUB INTO LONDON: HOW … [Read more...]
Advice from Steinbeck to Kick Off NANOWRIMO
Today is the first day of NANOWRIMO, wherein some crazy folks try to write an entire novel draft in a month. I confess that is faster that I can write (and anyway, I'm going on a girlfriend getaway mid-month), but I do applaud the idea of dedicating oneself in a concentrated way … [Read more...]
10 Terrific Quotes from Elizabeth Strout's Fresh Air Interview
May I recommend this interview -- Pulitzer-Prize winner Elizabeth Strout with Terry Gross on Fresh Air -- to anyone who writes, anyone who wants to write, anyone who has been to law school, anyone who wants to know what it's like to be a writer, or ... well, anyone! My favorite … [Read more...]
Ain't Nothing Like Him Nowhere
Writer Wins Love Lottery Because this is a writing blog, there is a writing angle here—perhaps the most important writing advice I can give anyone—but it's going to be mostly about the smartest decision I ever made, which was to say "I do" 27 years ago today. I didn't fall in … [Read more...]
