I’m a big fan of slow writing. I love that recent Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner (Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See) was a book that took 10 years to write. A previous winner, Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch, took a decade as well. (Right now, some NaNoWriMo writers are thinking, “Damn, I’m slowing […]
Archives for June 2015
You Never Know
I listened to Marc Maron’s interview with President Obama on Monday. If you’re not familiar with Marc Maron, here’s a quick version: a stand up comic busts his ass, hosts a show on Comedy Central, but never gets the breaks other comics around him seem to get. Throw in a struggle with addiction, and Maron […]
A Video and a Podcast
Yesterday, I finally watched this interview with Andy Weir (the author of The Martian): Yes, it’s almost an hour, but it’s a good chat! Some of my favorite bits from this interview: Weir serialized The Martian on his website and offered it for free. As its popularity grew, so did interest from agents and publishers. […]
How to Ask for Help
Peter Salerno was my great grandfather. He came to America from Italy with very little and ended up doing well for himself. The quick version goes like this: He went out west and followed cattle trains. He bought cattle, butchered them, and sold the cuts to cowboys. Somewhere along the way, he came in to […]
Roller Coaster Writing
The advice usually goes something like this: Hook your readers with action right from the start, and then…every single word, sentence, paragraph, and page must drive them through more action — until the end, when readers can barely handle any more excitement! I understand wanting to write (and read) something that feels like this: But […]