Yep, this is my oft-replayed playlist I use to wrestle a scene to the ground. Some of these items help me immerse myself in the setting of the novel or the mood of a scene; others speak to universal themes or specific ones I write about. In any case, playing them in this order is [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 7 so far )My newest brainchild could incur me the hatred of literary novelists everywhere if it caught on with the publishing industry’s Six Sisters. Including myself.In my fantasies – (I emphasize fantasies), one of my many brainstorms (I emphasize brainstorms) to throw out to my publishing team is a brand extension in the form of a music soundtrack…to a novel, as opposed [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )There are already enough pundits frothing at the mouth today over James Frey, and I can’t say Oprah didn’t make a good faith effort to make amends for defending him so precipitously. I have no problem believing she was caught up in it all, but I also can’t help but wonder if she would have questioned [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )I agree with Janet Burroway that the “write what you know” adage is an unnecessary and demeaning rule. I’ll say this: writing what I already know saves time researching facts. But as I see it, a text requires the same amount of time commitment scrutinizing it for logical plot flaws.
“At some point you have to [...]
Yesterday marked my grandfather’s 100th birthday. Although I didn’t meet my paternal grandparents until I was 12 and saw them only once or twice a year until their respective deaths, he is one of only two family members to inspire characters in the book – and minor ones at that.
I didn’t have hippie parents. In [...]
While it’s James Frey who’s the man of the hour for fooling Oprah and her book club with his fabricated autobiography A Million Little Pieces, the unmasked man of my New York minute is the woman behind JT Leroy. Up until now, this reclusive transgendered ex-runaway-cum-homeless druggie has received an outpouring of support – and [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )There’s no gleaning of the West Virginia mine tragedy in this household without one of my first – and favorite – books of poetry coming to mind. Written by South Florida poet James Brock, The Sunshine Mine Disaster chronicles a 1970s mine shaft fire in Jim’s native Idaho from the perspective of the miners. This silver [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )It started off with a siren: January 1. Confused over the place to meet for lunch, my father calls the police and reports me missing.
And went out in flames: New Year’s Eve 2005-6 was also the seventh night of Hanukkah.
Holiday discombobulation: July 4 spent reading poetry at a bar in St. Petersburg, Russia. Labor Day [...]
Suburban Cleveland (Mentor, Lake County). Great Lake. Bland houses. Soccer Mom Park with trails. Aunt. Uncle. Dad’s 50-year reunion. Lox and whitefish. Sitting indoors. Stuffed refrigerator. Listening to the old folks talk. Who got divorced. Who died. Who has an interesting illness. Rinse. Repeat. April is the cruellest month.
Miami Beach. In the merry month of [...]
A black hole between South Beach and Mid-Beach, where a novel is in progress…
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