Fine writing is the main attraction of this novel, set in Japan and China immediately after WW II. Individual scenes and character gestures are sometimes done with such elegance and grace that the prose verges on poetry. “Until this, war … Continue reading
I’m sketching for my new novel. I have 20 pages of notes, not really an “outline,” as in Roman numerals and all that, but I start out with a blank document divided into three sections, or “acts,” which are, Beginning, … Continue reading
I went into the hospital “for some tests,” as we say. In the ER, I gritted my teeth against abdominal pain as I listened to the moaning and crying around me and smelled the odors of sickness. I endured. Hospitals … Continue reading
This book was recommended to me as an example of how to show characters’ emotions effectively, something I struggle with. It’s the story of a woman whose husband abruptly abandons her for a younger woman, leaving her adrift and with … Continue reading
It’s been a hundred years since Einstein published his General Relativity (Gravity) theory. How time flies when your space-time is curved! Many summary articles have appeared, in The New York Times, Science News, and The Economist, to name just a … Continue reading
About a year ago I converted a novel-length manuscript from first-person narration to third person. It was almost impossible to do it without error. I read through the converted manuscript three times and every time I would find multiple instances … Continue reading
I got up at 3:30 this Thanksgiving morning so I could leave the house by 4:30 to take my wife to the airport. As soon as I entered the arterial from my neighborhood I was passed by a county sheriff’s … Continue reading
The main reason I left teaching psychology is that I couldn’t go on teaching lies. When I analyzed the source of my discontent, I came up with a dim view of my chosen field, a criticism of widely held pre-theoretic … Continue reading
I recently saw, on DVD, Wise Blood, the movie based on a novel by Flannery O’Connor. Criterion has reissued this 1979 gem, all cleaned up, and with annotations and interviews for context. The movie increased my respect for O’Connor. I … Continue reading
I recently participated in an online writing conference offered by Backspace Writers Conference (http://www.backspacewritersconference.com/). Their conferences run four days and include six attendees from all parts of the country. This particular one focused on manuscript submission materials: a query letter … Continue reading