Authors
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Marc Maron, Unlikely Inspiration
Anyone looking for a self-publishing success story doesn’t need to look far. The examples of newly minted millionaires (like Amanda Hocking and E.L. James) are highly Google-able. But that’s not why I decided to strike out on my own. No, if I have to point to one inspiration, it would probably be comedian and podcaster… Continue reading
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What They Knew #15
In honor of yesterday’s post about the great city of London… “Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” — Samuel Johnson Continue reading
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What They Knew #14
“Everything intelligent is so boring.” ― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina Continue reading
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The Writer’s Mind: Sharing the Creative Experience
I’ve been following the many discussions recently of why we like long novels. And while those are interesting and fun, I think they’ve missed something important about the length of the creative work and its impact on the reader. My moment of truth was handed to me by that fabulous liar, Edgar Allan Poe. I’ll… Continue reading
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How to Review Books: My Manifesto
Sometimes changes make tired old arguments look even more creaky. This is how I felt when I encountered yet another back-and-forth about whether book reviewers should strive to be positive and avoid snark, or whether they should be hard-minded critics, willing to blame as well as praise in their criticism. Maria Bustillos has a rundown.… Continue reading
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Ford, Lawrence, and the Wise Professor: On Discovering Greatness in Literature
This story starts with a great moment in literary autobiography – well, fine, let’s go ahead and say it has a claim to being one of the great moments in the history of literature. I have a personal story of my own to throw in at the end. But the story begins here, in the… Continue reading
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Fighting Discouragement: You Are New!
In an interview with Tinhouse’s J.C. Hallman, Walter Kirn refers to a common anxiety among writers: J.C. Hallman: Do creative writers have an obligation to act as critics, to offer up alternatives to traditional critical methodologies and assumptions? Walter Kirn: Creative writers have no obligation do anything, including their own creative work. That’s what makes… Continue reading
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My Bookstore
Okay, Borders has gone under. Barnes & Noble is struggling. Independent bookstores have been embattled for years. I’m a fan of Amazon (and used to work there! they’re good folks! they paid my wages!). But I’m also a nostalgic person. If I can be misty-eyed about the end of Blockbuster, I’m certainly allowed to think… Continue reading
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What They Knew #13
““The language belongs to fishermen, not scholars.” –Jorge Luis Borges (on efforts to impose an official diction on English) Continue reading
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Parks v. Sacks: Can A Novelist Make Magic?
Tim Parks is a novelist and critic. (The distinction is important.) Recently he wrote a piece for the New York Review of Books blog about the current state of novels, and what it means for today’s novelist. Parks’s essay, worth reading in its entirety, starts out slowly. Parks apparently feels compelled to describe (only to… Continue reading
Jacke Wilson 