what kind of a day it has been
look, if you are going to write a column about what it means now that osama bin laden is dead, really you have to weigh your options first.
Seeking a Wide Variety of Excellent Writing
In this interview, Christina Thompson of the Harvard Review offers insight into an editor's adorations and frustrations.
The Pleasure and Pain of Lovers and Readers
Love is something beyond us—something just within our fingertips but always taking that one extra step to elude us. In the end we begin to realize that this is perhaps for the best—that it is maybe more fortunate than we realize.
Query Letters That DON’T Work, Not Even a Little Bit
Having personally harassed over a thousand literary agents in the greater Tri-State area, I thought I’d share a few samples of flawed query letters so that you may learn from my mistakes.
The 8th “R” of Positivity for the Unpublished Novelist
The amateur novelist has an enlightening experience where all enlightening experiences seem to happen: out in the woods. Today's episode: The importance of relaxation (without having to waste time relaxing).
How to Offend Your Family
What’s the point of being a writer if not to let your resentments build over a lifetime so that you may one day slay your family members through the refracted mirror of art?
The Psychology of Waiting
The amateur novelist resists the urge to make a tally mark in his skin for each day that goes by without good news. Today’s episode: managing neuroses.
The Process, The Process: Part 3
One wonders who these films are for. How about those new to poetry, then? Is a soapy rendering of the author’s life enough to prompt someone to pick up a volume of poems for the first time? I rather doubt it.
whateverandever, amen
sometimes i come this fucking close to putting the whole column in italics and in swears just to give those gorgeous tart medullas that shiver. you know the shiver.
Remembrance of News Past
In the news over the last week: Google's crushed dreams; Oprah's misguided fascination with poetry; Laura Miller on the cure for writer's block; a rally against evil publishers; a self-published millionaire goes traditional; ancient graffiti; and a posthumous Bolaño essay.
Not Quite Two and a Half
After finally sitting through Knocked Up with every intention of reviewing it, but unable to scrape together any reaction more articulate than ‘ugh’, I reached back a little way for something to blast away the indifference. In The Company of Men is one of those films I always meant to watch.
The Myth of Morality