Johnny Cash, Glen Sherley and Kristen Lamb
A Loose Connection: Folsom Untold and Rise of the Machines I took a long walk while listening to Folsom Untold: The Strange True Story of Johnny Cash’s Greatest Album. I wanted to listen to Folsom because I’d recently read Rachel Kushner’s The Mars Room (great stuff!) … Continued
Writing Inspiration from The Friend by Sigrid Nunez
The Friend by Sigrid Nunez is about writers, how they relate to one another, and how they engage with the larger world. It’s a great read for anyone who is writing just now.
Writing Prompts from “The Buried Giant”
Use Quotes from Reading for Writing Prompts I’ve come to think that some of the best writing prompts are the things we underline in the books we read. I’ve decided to periodically post some of my underlining here. The nice … Continued
Independent Bookstores: I Do Like Them
Say! I like this intriguing book! I do! I like it, take a look! And I would read books in a boat. And I would read them with a goat… And I will read them, … Continued
Horror: The Haunting of Hill House, Lovecraft and More
Multiple Horrors We didn’t begin with Shirley Jackson or the Haunting of Hill House this week. My sons and I started our email conversation about an article in the LA Review of Books on how authors are reimagining H. P. … Continued
Women’s Anthology: Carrying Fire
My story “In the Cards” is out in the latest TL;DR anthology, Carrying Fire. Here’s a nice blog post about the project.
Try a Family Book Club
People joke about their love of the wine and food, but book clubs are essentially a great experience because we get to discuss one of our favorite things with some of our favorite people. I’ve participated in book clubs with … Continued
The Miseducation of Cameron Post: Literary Quality YA
The film The Miseducation of Cameron Post based on the YA novel of the same name won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Festival. I’m naive enough about the judgment of critics to think that this meant they would all … Continued
Fiction and School Libraries: What Happens When We Neglect Story
Schooled An issue that has been on my mind for years. My essay in the Eckleburg Review. We should be encouraging students to read fiction for many reasons. Supporting school libraries helps to ensue that we do.
Kristen Lamb’s disgust with the F.E.C.A.L matter of publishing
In the following blog post, Kristen Lamb expresses something I’ve thought about for awhile, but about which I don’t have the experience or authority to speak. She certainly doesn’t pull any punches. Thought it might interest other writers. Operation F.E.C.A.L: … Continued