Archive for July 2014
The Art of the Twerk: Writing the Miley Cyrus Way
To start. . .ahem. . .with a sentence I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined writing: Miley Cyrus has something to teach us about writing. Intrigued? Read on. Shaking your head in disbelief? Wondering about my sanity? Stick with me. This post is all about the outlandish. It’s about encouraging outrageous personae as…
Read MoreTaking the Temperature of Writers’ Conferences
Since we’re in the midst of writers’ conference season, I decided to rerun a post this morning: If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember the old thermometers, the ones that you had to keep under your tongue for four minutes, the ones you had to shake down with an expert snap of the wrist,…
Read MoreWriting to Preserve
I lost a pocket comb yesterday. It exists somewhere without me now. It was a black pocket comb, purchased in Anchorage, Alaska, to replace another comb that I lost there. I usually don’t lose combs, but now I’ve lost two in two months. * Loss informs so much of my writing. I’m forever interested in…
Read MoreJuggling Balls: An Exercise for Opening a Short Story
For whatever reason, I’m thinking this morning about the openings of short stories and what we expect of them. Rust Hills, in his excellent book, Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular, says the end of a good story is always present in its beginning. The final move of a story is only…
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