Photo Credit: Summer in Connecticut - The Old Barn at Branchville, J. Alden Weir, 1890's, oil on canvas, Christie's, New York: Trzesacz/Wikimedia Commons/PD Old 95 1934 I posted this week's blog post (here) a few days earlier than usual for a reason. I'll be taking April off to concentrate on my goals for Camp NanoWriMo. I will … Continue reading Camp Nano Blog Break
We’ve had a couple of no-shows with the Author Dream Series lately but the lovely women’s fiction/romantic comedy author, Laura Heffernan! As a child, I wanted to be a writer, a veterinarian, or (sadly) a model on Star Search. Well, it turns out, I’m terrified of blood so all medical-related professions are out. Models have … Continue reading Author Dream Series: Laura Heffernan
Photo Credit: The family of Carlos IV, former King of Spain. La Familia de Carlos IV, 1800-1801, Francisco de Goya, oil on canvas, Museo del Prado: Lomita/Wikimedia Commons/PD Art (PD Old 100) I have always been intrigued by family traditions. Most families have them, most of them small but significant ones. I remember every Saturday … Continue reading The Weight of Family Tradition
Photo Credit: The young writer, 1958, on aTriumph Perfekt typewriter, manufactured by Trimph-Werke in Nuremberg, German: pellethepoet/Flickr/CC BY 2.0 ***Some spoilers*** Like many of my blog post ideas, this one began as the germ from an article I read and evolved through research. As a writer, of course I am always interested in the way … Continue reading The Corruption of a Writer’s Life: Billy Wilder’s Films About Writers
Photo Credit: Book, phone, and computer in chains, created and uploaded on 24 January 2015 by stevepb: stevepb/Pixabay/CC0 1.0 “I had to let go … then come back to the [book] understanding the new limitations as creative challenges.” (Tea, par. 4) I came across an interview with West Coast writer Michelle Tea quite some time … Continue reading Creative Limitations
Not exactly the Mom and Dad you would picture for the traditional (and fabled) nuclear family, is it? Photo Credit: A Grotesque Couple: Old Woman with an Elaborate Headdress and Old Man with Large Ears and Lacking a Chin, 1491 or 93 – 1570, Giovanni Francesco Melzi, pen and brown ink, Metropolitan Museum of … Continue reading Unlikely Pairings: Grotesque Domestic Fiction
Photo Credit: Books on the shelf of an Amazon bookstore with all the covers facing front, location unknown, uploaded 21 March 2016 by Brian Chow: bchow/Flickr/CC BY 2.0 “[Literary and commercial fiction are] serve different purposes in our society.” (Levin, par. 2) When I first discovered writing at the age of fourteen, I didn’t read … Continue reading Literary vs. Commercial Fiction – Better or Different?
Photo Credit: Book trash, taken 7 October 2017 by Paul Sableman: Meisam/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0 “[S]ome authors grow to dislike, disown, resent, or regret their books after publication—whether because of an unexpected critical or popular response, changes in their own views, or simple aging.” (Temple, par. 1) The idea that an author might hate a book … Continue reading Unhappy Accidents: Why Writers Hate Their Own Work
Photo Credit: Steel black and white sculpture of jazz players, upcycled: Max Pixel/CC0 1.0 “The importance of rhythm [in prose] in my estimation is a measure of the difference between a live book and a dead one.” (Nin, Novel of the Future, Chap 3, location1684) Not long ago, I had an argument (well, more of … Continue reading The Jazz of the Writing World: In Defense of “Purple Prose”
****NOTE: Some people have contacted me with concerns that the entry showed no place to put their email. I asked the giveaway organizer about this and this was his response: If you came through Facebook or logged in on Rafflecopter it automatically grabs your email address. You can click the little toggle in the upper … Continue reading Be Our Valentine Giveaway!
