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My project titled Chipotle is on hold. I had previously posted about a half dozen process notes on its development. I had the end zone in sight. Now it’s packed away for a while. The reason is that I had … Continue reading
Yearly Archives: 2014
Not A Waste of Time Silber, Joan (2009). The Art of Time in Fiction: As Long as it Takes. Minneapolis, MN: Greywolf Press, 114pp. I bought this book on the recommendation of a writing instructor when I was having … Continue reading
A Smelly Book Suskind, Patrick (1986). Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. New York: Vintage. (Translated from the German by John E. Woods.) It’s difficult to conceptualize smells and to describe their essence in writing. Even familiar smells, like coffee … Continue reading
Bums with Feelings Kennedy, William (1983). Ironweed. New York: Penguin, 225 pp. This beautifully written novel is a character study of homeless alcoholics in Albany during the depression. Sounds depressing, but it isn’t, because the characters are so alive and … Continue reading
The Novel That Didn’t Know When to Stop Shacochis, Bob (2013). The Woman Who Lost Her Soul. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 713 pp. I’d characterize this as a spy thriller, in the camp of LeCarre, perhaps, although unlike LeCarre, … Continue reading
This is another in my irregular series of posts documenting the process of writing my first non-genre novel, working title, Chocotle. Previous posts are lower in the stack. The purpose of this documentation? Many. One is that it helps me … Continue reading
All The Insight of a Rabbit Updike, John (1960). Rabbit, Run. New York: Random House, 264 pp. This is the first of the “Rabbit” tetralogy, and the book that established Updike as one of the greatest American novelists (and won … Continue reading
This is the latest post in a series of maybe a dozen, concerning the process of writing my current project, working title Chocotle. As a progress report, I’m finishing up chapter 18 now, which will put me at about 57,000 … Continue reading
My last post on the process of writing my current novel was over a month ago. Then, I considered why sometimes chapters came to an end before I was ready, when I still had more to say. My answer was … Continue reading
Rushdie, Salman (1990). Haroun and the Sea of Stories. London: Granta Books. 212 pp. A Fantastic Essay on Writing This is perhaps Rushdie’s most accessible book, ostensibly a children’s fairy tale, set in a fantasy world far away. An Indian … Continue reading