Before tackling the first adult novel I remember reading, John Irving’s The World According to Garp (Modern Library) (affiliate link), the first adult fiction of any kind I remember reading was James Thurber’s short stories, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” and “The Catbird Seat.” I read them because they were available, and they were […]
The Future of Books and Publishing
I recently watched Richard Nash’s talk about the future of books and publishing. (I found it here, on Booklife.) There are some great points made in the presentation, but there were two that really stuck out: The reminder that the long form narrative is a feature, not a bug. Most writers — whether they know […]
Writing Priorities
I recently finished Haruki Murakami’s memoir about running and writing, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. While it’s much more about running than writing — even if you don’t like running — it’s worth reading if you write. The parallels between distance running and writing a novel are obvious even if you […]
Cover Story
Yesterday, The New York Times ran a story about book covers and e-books. I know we’ve all heard that you can’t judge a book by its cover, but covers do matter. I’ve judged more than a few books by their covers in my time (found my favorite book that way), and in almost every case […]
The Book Pile: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much
I’ve been meaning to write a review about Allison Hoover Bartlett’s The Man Who Loved Books Too Much for awhile, now. The book was given to me as a Christmas gift; it was one of my favorite gifts received last December. The Man Who Loved Books Too Much is the true story of John Gilkey, […]
The Platform of Silence
J.D. Salinger is dead. I’m not going to talk about what an influence he was on my writing because it was just last year that I finally got off my lazy goddamn ass and read that stinking book he wrote–you know, that one everybody talks about and stuff; the really famous one with the rambling […]
Make Them Laugh
People love to laugh. It doesn’t matter if what you write is serious or humorous, making people laugh is giving them what they want. Here are 5 tips for writing funny, even if you aren’t: 1. Be Universal If you don’t think you have it in you to be funny, you’re not paying enough attention […]
The Gift of Books
Yesterday, I wrote about giving the gift of reading. In yesterday’s blog entry, I wrote about how my mom is one of the people who made me love reading. We had a very rare white Christmas in north Texas. (I haven’t seen a white Christmas in 25 years, when I used to live north of […]
5 Writing Lessons in Last Night in Twisted River
I recently finished John Irving’s Last Night in Twisted River. Irving has been one of my favorite writers since I was a kid. I will never write like him; I have no desire to write like him. But I love reading his books. Even if you’re not an Irving fan, here are five lessons from […]
The Sunday Night Ache
Sunday nights get to me. I love having a weekend to see the people I love, and I love having a weekend to write! Sunday night signals a return to the 5/7ths of the week I have to work. When it comes to jobs, I have a good one. I’ve turned down offers making almost […]
The Big Three
I always loved reading and writing. When I was younger, I read and wrote as much as I could, but I never thought about being a writer. I didn’t think about being a writer until discovering two things: the movie, Time Bandits, and Stephen King’s book, Different Seasons. I saw Time Bandits three times the […]
Social Networking and the Power of Free
Earlier this week, Jason Pinter announced that he was giving his book, THE MARK, away for free as an e-book. I’ve been reading more books on my iTouch, using the Kindle app. I’d planned to read THE MARK, so I downloaded the e-book and have it for when I’m ready to read it. I stumbled […]
The Book Pile: Border Songs
I loved Jim Lynch’s, The Highest Tide. Since the publication of the book, I’ve kept my eye open for Lynch’s next book. Apparently, my eyes have been closed this summer, because his latest book, Border Songs, has been out for a few months. Some reviewers have said that it’s the same plot as The Highest […]