Interviewers often ask people what their favorite books are and why. No one asked, but I’ll tell you anyway. Without a doubt, my favorite book is Never in Anger: A Portrait of an Eskimo Family by Jean L. Briggs. I bought my copy in 1972, shortly after it was first published. Forty-eight years later, it’s […]
Why Write?
I write and I teach writing. If you think I’m going to tell you why I write—not this time. This is about why you should be writing. I don’t often tell others what I think they should do with their lives, but I do feel strongly that we all need to, at least, write memoirs. […]
What if . . .
I wrote a post about science fiction and fantasy books that I’ve reviewed, including one called Wandering City Blues by Jonny Lupsha. I liked that book, and I hope to read more by this author. (I’ll add the relevant paragraphs at the end in case you want to glance through them.) * * * After […]
Setting Writing Goals
“How much should I be writing?” The answer is, “As much as you want.” Your goals are exactly that, yours. Writing is one of the few endeavors where you get to be totally selfish (unless someone else is paying you for your time.) But true productivity isn’t just measured in number of words or pages. […]
Science Fiction
Working as a book reviewer has been surprising. When I started, I had a mental list of what I wanted to read and what I would enjoy. Science fiction and fantasy were nowhere on that list. Well, after reviewing almost 300 books, I’ve learned. It turns out that there’s good writing everywhere, even in genres […]
Samples of Hooks
The first sentence in your writing is called the hook. It is quite literally intended to hook the reader into to wanting to buy your book. If you’re intending to try traditional publishing, it should hook the reader at whatever agency you send your manuscript to. You don’t have to have the perfect hook when […]
Memory and Memoir
I had a friend, Jim, who fell off a ladder. The doctors said they couldn’t tell whether the fall caused a stroke or if a stroke caused the fall. In any case, when he finally woke up in the hospital, his memory was gone. He told me that the worried-looking woman at his bedside was […]
Haiku
I’ve set myself a new project. It’s not as if I don’t have enough to do, but oh, well. I’m going to try to write a garden diary entry every day. I want to start each entry with a haiku. I started a project to write haiku 12 years ago. I managed to write two […]
The Year I Ate My Yard
I promised you that I would give you some reviews of garden books. Here’s one that I had fun with: The Year I Ate My Yard: Essays for the Vegetable Gardener by Tony Kienitz “This is the best book on gardening I’ve ever read, and I’m not kidding.” STEVE MARTIN, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, actor & […]