February 2012
29 posts
1 tag
1 tag
“Ah, the prayers of the millions, how they must fight and destroy each other on...”
– Tortilla Flat, by John Steinbeck. (while listening to Jeff Buckley sing “Hallelujah,” no less)
2 tags
1 tag
Fictioneers, you need this.
I just learned about the Fake Name Generator. It generates names and robust profiles based on gender and nationality. If you write fiction, you need this.
2 tags
Dig this: Kiesza
Originally from Calgary, Alberta, electro-pop artist Kiesza may be Berklee’s answer to James Bond. The 2011 alumna was a tall-ship sailor, a Miss Universe contestant, and a sniper and codebreaker in the Canadian military before discovering her talent for writing catchy dance anthems.
Now Kiesza can be found performing at festivals around the world, including a concert for 30,000 people in...
The Providence Athenaeum
When I was a wee boy, my parents bought one of the original memberships to the Providence Athenaeum off somebody who was selling it on the cheap.
Spending time there must have done something to my head, because it (and places like it) are still among my favorites.
And plus, you know, the book thing.
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/25/146814120/athenas-library-the-quirky-pillar-of-providence
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/27/147296743/how-you-can... →
Ann Patchett on the Colbert Report (win for the... →
2 tags
Dig this: Metal Mike Chlasciak '94
Metal Mike Chlasciak—a 1994 alumnus—has performed with many of the darkest names in the metal pantheon, including Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson, Sebastian Bach, and Axl Rose. He has released several instructional videos; appeared on television shows; penned magazine articles and instructional books; and even authored a literary volume of lyric poetry.
Brace yourself for the face-melting metal of...
1 tag
Watchbraiker:
This guy. So good.
thestrutny:
Jack White’s first solo track Love Interruption now has a video. In the video Jack jams with musicians Ruby Amanfu, Emily Bowland and Brooke Waggoner. Click through to watch:
(via Video: Jack White – Love Interruption)
1 tag
TV Tropes →
Great website devoted to plot clichés and their resolutions. Sometimes it helps to realize that you’re not that original, and your problems have been solved before. It can help you push through to something that’s new and uniquely your own.
1 tag
Study: drinking helps your creativity
http://gizmodo.com/5884963/drinking-vodka-makes-you-talk-more-better
I’m not sure we needed a study to figure this out.
3 tags
It's all about surprises. →
1 tag
“Most stories about ghosts are really stories about bad conscience.”
– Stephen King
1 tag
Take heart!
The New Yorker is offering the draft of “Beginners” by Raymond Carver, showing the edits Gordon Lish made before retitling it “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.”
Check it out, and be emboldened.
1 tag
“Writer’s block is often a dislike of writing badly and waiting for writing...”
– Jennifer Egan
1 tag
Raymond Carver's "On Writing" →
fwriction:
from Raymond Carver’s “On Writing”:
“What creates tension in a piece of fiction is partly the way the concrete words are linked together to make up the visible action of the story. But it’s also the things that are left out, that are implied, the landscape just under the smooth (but sometimes broken and unsettled) surface of things.
V.S. Pritchett’s definition of a short story is...
Fishing... with John →
1 tag
Free pass to the San Francisco writers' conference
Writer’s Digest is giving away a free ticket valued at $745. Click here for details.
1 tag
12 Things They Should Have Told You About Writing →
1 tag
1 tag
Cool app - Sonified
Sonified is an iPhone/iPad app that musically interprets everything the camera sees, giving you a peek at what it’s like to have synesthaesia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IzBZPwjcwhs#!
1 tag
Good post on writing groups
Here’s a good essay about writing groups from Ploughshares.
1 tag
111 Essential Articles and Essays →
tetw:
A huge collection of the very best magazine length non-fiction. Includes stacks of classic material from DFW, JJS, HST, Joan Didion, Chuck Klosterman, Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Orlean, Annie Dillard, Walter Kirn, Tom Woolfe, and many many others.
What have you done to earn your citizenship?
This is a great conversation-starter article about citizenship from The Atlantic. It posits the idea that abolition of birthright citizenship might be a good thing for the health of the American polity overall.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/02/should-all-americans-have-to-earn-their-citizenship/252433/
2 tags
Spreading the love: Lesley Mahoney
Big ups to my friend Lesley Mahoney, who nabbed a Glimmer Train honorable mention in the Short Story Award for New Writers. I haven’t yet read her story “The Good Neighbor,” but I’ll keep nagging her until she lets me.
In honor of Lesley’s accomplishment, here is John Boutte’s “Good Neighbor.”
