October 4, 2008 – 12:35 pm
From NY Times’ Literary Letters, Lost in Cyberspace: “Back in the 20th century, when publishers had three-martini lunches and young women fresh out of Bryn Mawr became secretaries, not editors, it was often lamented that the telephone might put an end to literary biography. In lieu of letters, writers could just as easily gab on [...]
September 16, 2008 – 11:47 pm
From Dave Eggers’ recollections of David Foster Wallace, published in McSweeney’s thread of memories of David Foster Wallace: “There’s something very strange and uniquely powerful about meeting a guy whose writing you find world-changing but who also comes from your part of the world—and who seems exactly like someone who would have come from your [...]
September 16, 2008 – 03:01 am
It’s no secret that I am a supporter of Sen. Obama. I have donated to his campaign and I have unwavering faith that he will be a better president than Sen. John McCain.
It’s also no secret that I support a full withdrawal from Iraq. I once supported a rapid withdrawal, but on most days, I [...]
September 14, 2008 – 12:31 pm
From NY Times’s David Foster Wallace, Postmodern Writer, Is Found Dead: “David Foster Wallace, whose darkly ironic novels, essays and short stories garnered him a large following and made him one of the most influential writers of his generation, was found dead in his California home on Friday, after apparently committing suicide, the authorities said.”
August 1, 2008 – 12:53 pm
There’s only two charts necessary to describe my writing life in July.
I’ve got two weeks left before the complete draft of the novel is delivered into the hands of my advisor and my second reader. I’m also sending a copy to my friend Dana, who graduated with her MFA from Goddard back in January, and [...]
From Ann Patchett’s My Life In Sales: “While I was out with my last novel, Run, I routinely had audiences of 200 people a night. As those patient readers stood in line and waited for me to sign their books, I realized for the first time that book tour really is more than a goodwill [...]
Sorry for the slow week of postings, but I’m up at Goddard and all of my writing time is focused solely on my creative thesis, which — holy shit! — must be complete and in my advisor’s hands by August 18th. I’m in a decent place with the novel. I’ve got about 300 pages written, [...]
From Caleb Crain’s How Is the Internet Changing Literary Style?: “Good evening. In my talk tonight, I would like to raise the question, How is the internet changing literary style? The question has at least two aspects. First, Which traits of style change when writing goes online? Second, What are the forces that cause these [...]
From Slate’s Has modern life killed the semicolon?: “The 1737 guide Bibliotheca Technologica recognizes ‘The comma (,) which stops the voice while you tell [count] one. The Semicolon (;) pauseth while you tell two. The Colon (:) while you tell three; and then period, or full stop (.) while you tell four.’ Lacking standards for [...]
My (hopefully) final Goddard residency begins on Friday. In anticipation of that event, I thought it might be a good time to finally write that post I’ve been meaning to write. Specifically, a short little guide to the websites I find indispensable to my creative writing process.
The main tools you already know about. I wrote [...]
Now Hearing