Memoir Week

It’s “memoir week” at Slate! They’ve got a nice collection of essays that look at some of the touchier issues of memoir, including pieces by Edmund White (My Lives), Mary Carr (The Liar’s Club) and Danielle Trussoni (Falling Through the Earth).

back in the saddle

It’s been two months since I sent out any of my work despite, um, being mostly unemployed and therefore having a little extra — ahem — time on my hands.
The thing is, a spate of rejections I got in February (and earlier) put me in a low mood. I know, I know, I should [...]

Murakami a Kiriyama Prize winner

Haruki Murakami has won the Kiriyama Prize for his collection of short stories Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman; along with Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin for their nonfiction work, Three Cups of Tea.
More info about the prize, the winners, and the runners up, here.

conjunction dysfunction

I had drinks with a few friends last week. Several people at our table worked for the same news organization, and they brought up the fact that they are not allowed to use the word “but” in their writing. Or “although.” Or “however.” That’s because those words herald contradiction, which, they said, you don’t want [...]

Hemingway was on to something.

A job ad recently caught my attention and because it asked for writing samples, got me thinking about the business of being an editor of my own writing.
I have published news articles, which generally make for good writing samples because they are short and, perhaps more importantly from a getting-hired perspective, published. But I started [...]

“Montana sucks. Now go home and tell all your friends.”

I haven’t posted about California in a while, so I thought I’d share this article on Westerners’ hatred of Californians.
Apparently Californians are infecting the region with bad driving, blue-state politics and “attitude.” I can see where this comes from, but, sorry, despite living in California I find this article hilarious, not offensive.

Sunday bits

It’s Sunday, and hopefully all of you out there (hello!) are kicking back in your bathrobes with enormous cups of coffee and wasting hours reading the newspaper, surfing blogs, and just generally lazing away a lovely weekend morning. I will admit to being jealous of your lazy morning for I am off to the vet, [...]

thinking blogger awards

So Jade Park has given me a Thinking Blogger Award. Thanks Jade! I’m a little slow on the uptake — I didn’t even realize it until today (must be all the thinking!) and now I’m the one sitting around in my pajamas while getting awards. Anyway, thank you.
And now, apparently, I must offer up five [...]

This American Life

The odd-but-endearing Ira Glass National Public Radio show is going on TV. I’ve always liked This American Life — it’s excellent nonfiction storytelling. I learn a lot from it as a writer. I also admit to wishing I could write /report one of the segments, but that’s neither here nor there.
There was an article about [...]

the desire to write

I’ve gotten something back, something that up and left, oh, about six months ago while I was agonizing over my thesis. I’m talking about the desire to write.
I’ve been doing three things since the beginning of the year with regards to my writing:
-forcing myself to write because I feel I should, as in, “I guess [...]