Category: Uncategorized
-
Stop Making Jennifer Trudge
Trudge? Trudge? I hate the word. Am I the only one? And am I wrong? After all, some of the first writing advice we hear is to avoid adverbs and prefer verbs that are active and vivid in themselves. Trudge, therefore, should be a fine word. It should at least be preferable to “walked laboriously,”…
-
Liminal Space Demystified
If you’ve attended a creative writing class or a workshop, you may have heard the term “liminal space.” As in: “In this piece, the laundromat is really functioning as a liminal space.” You may see the other students nodding, murmuring in agreement, and meanwhile, you’re thinking “what on earth are liminal spaces, and why does…
-
A Few Recommended Craft Books
When writers say “craft books,” we’re talking about books on the craft of writing. I’ve never read a craft book that I agreed with from the first line to the last, and I think that’s okay. Sometimes, in fact, encountering advice that you absolutely disagree with is valuable. It’s an opportunity to ask, “why do…
-
A Writing Instructor’s Year in Reading
Happy New Year and welcome 2023! Now, I promised a literary agent a revised copy of my manuscript by the end of my winter break (January 16th), and so I really should be revising. But I’ve had some time off because of the holidays and because, in the last week of the semester, I fell…
-
Hell Week Revisited
Crazy news, everyone. An agent has read my novel, Gay Marine Blues, and offered me notes and encouragement. I haven’t gotten the offer of representation yet, so I don’t want to celebrate too much or tell you anything too concrete about this… but… I’m excited. If I can get the thing into good shape, we…
-
Contemporary Poets: Stop Doing This
These days, poetry as a written artform is consumed in two places: academia and Instagram. Academic poets, and many others besides, like to make fun of Instagram poetry because it is full of derivative ideas and cliché images (comparing an imminent breakup to a storm on the horizon, for example). Some poets lament the rise…
-
The Wicked Prophet Balaam: Sigma Male of the Bible
Before I discuss our subject, I have to mention the difficulty and brutality of the Book of Numbers. Why is Numbers such a punisher? First: much dry content. It describes two censuses in repetitive detail. The tribes of Israel are numbered, the order of march for the tribes and procedures for making and breaking camp…
-
2022 Book List Six Months In
God Knows Thumbs Down The Awakening Thumbs Up Antony and Cleopatra Thumbs Up Coriolanus Thumbs Up The Captive Thumbs Down Timon of Athens Thumbs Up Eugene Onegin Thumbs Up Pericles Thumbs Down Several People Are Typing Thumbs Up Paradise Lost Thumbs Up Cymbeline Thumbs Up Age of Innocence Thumbs Up A Winter’s Tale Thumbs Up…
-
Major Prophets–ranked!
You will legitimately be surprised at number one. As usual, I owe everybody everything. I owe an update on the books I’ve read, I owe another installment of “Sigma Males of the Bible,” I could probably do a post on my writing process. But what I’ve defaulted on in my blog, I’ve paid in revisions…
-
Washington Square
As the summer rolls on, so does summer reading. In fact, I feel like I’m finishing books faster than I can blog about them. Here is a post to catch up and deliver a referendum on recently finished titles. From the Bible: Ezra and Nehemiah. Now y’all know I love to read my Bible. But…
Nolancapps.com 