Every so often, I come across something that makes a certain facet of life feel like it goes from darkness to light. Occasionally it’s something large (bordering on epiphany), but most times it’s something smaller. Even smaller things, though, can seem big when a certain problem is solved or a new way of looking at […]
Archives for October 2015
The Guy in Your MFA
I recently wrote about writers writing about writers. In an earlier draft of the entry, I mentioned a guy in several college classes I was in. He never actually wrote anything (as much as any of us could tell), but he talked about writing a lot. He rolled his own cigarettes, carried around a copy […]
Are Writers Liars?
I sometimes feel like I begin too many entries, here, with, “So I was listening to Jess Walter and Sherman Alexie on the Tiny Sense of Accomplishment podcast…” But it’s that good! In the most recent episode, Sherman and Jess talk about writers and lying. Some quotes from that section: I make stuff up at […]
Writing about Writers
[This is an entry I started writing last week and set aside. Then, a couple days ago at work, I chatted with a friend about writing. Specifically, we began talking about John Irving’s love of writing about writers — and how it mostly bores us. So…I decided to not scrap this entry.] Earlier today, I […]
What is Real?
I saw someone on a podcast community I frequent talk about what they do in their “real job.” It’s a term I’ve heard used frequently: I really love sculpting, but my real job is software development… There’s nothing I’d rather do in life than paint, but my real job is working as an admin… I […]
Lazy Weekend Blues
I had a list of things I planned to do this past weekend. It wasn’t a list written on a piece of paper or captured by an app to remind me to do these things at a specific time. It’s the list of things I do every weekend: I planned to write and record podcasts. […]
Truth in Fiction
I have a friend who hates magicians. He feels they mock the audience in an act of, “I know something you don’t know!” (There are many people who feel this way about magicians.) Me, on the other hand…I like good magic. I don’t mind that the person on stage knows truths I don’t know. When […]
Keeping it Short
Last night, I did something for the first time in what feels like years… I started a new short story. I’m not sure if it’s actually been years, or only feels that way. In recent years, my focus has been on novels and podcasts. Outside of Megan Mayhew Bergman and Dan Chaon, I’m not sure […]
The [Not So] Social Media Break
Early last month, I wrote about The September Silence. I wasn’t as silent as I’ve been in previous breaks… Breaking the Silence There were several times I broke the silence to share something online. I gave a talk about podcasting on September 1 and I thanked some people for attending. Later in the month, I […]