"I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest."
— John Keats. (To whom I say, “Go get ‘em, Tyger!”)
Adam Renn Olenn holds degrees from the University of Virginia and the Boston Conservatory.
He writes fiction, nonfiction, and occasional computer code. He lives in Massachusetts with his family.
Visit the official website of Adam Renn Olenn.
To get in touch, write to aolenn@gmail.com Ask me anything Submit
May 24, 2013
May 22, 2013
"You can complete a project by dropping it."
— Arianna Huffington, at Smith College graduation
May 21, 2013
"One boy’s footprints are not long in being lost in the snow, in the steadily falling snow of the shortest day, the longest night; they are lost as soon as they are made. And once again the heath is clothed in drifting white. And there is no ghost, save the one ghost that lives in the heart of a motherless boy till his footprints disappear."
— “Independent People,” by Halldor Laxness
May 21, 2013
May 20, 2013
Publishing explained
This should clear up all the flavors of publishing, from traditional to totally DIY, and everything in-between.
May 20, 2013
Do you know what would REALLY make you happy right now? (No, actually, you don't.)
We all want to be happy. But how, exactly, do you go about it? More stuff or less? More choice or less? The answers — from psychologists, journalists, Buddhist monks — may surprise you.
But you can be happy if want to be. It’s volitional. Dig it.
May 17, 2013
Bill Gates inspires me
Here he is talking in compassionate and reasonable ways about how to save lives.
May 13, 2013
Powell's interview: Dennis Lehane
Representin’ Boston hi-side/lo-side!
May 9, 2013
May 8, 2013
Raymond Chandler on Writing
The best writing in English today is done by Americans, but not in any purist tradition. They have roughed the language around as Shakespeare did and done it the violence of melodrama and the press box. they have knocked over tombs and sneered at the dead. Which is as it should be. There are too many dead men and there is too much talk about them.
The man really knows his way around a sentence.
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“Dad’s Theory of Arrogance—that everyone always assumes they’re the Principal Character of Desire and/or Loathing in everybody else’s Broadway...
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What’s okay & not okay to criticize in workshop, and how to size up the critique? By...
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Raymond Carver (1938-1988), was a poet before he was celebrated as a writer of short stories. Here is “Eagles,” from his 1985 collection Where...
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“The road to hell is paved with works-in-progress.”— Philip Roth (via writerlyconundrums)
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This “reading nest” is 32 square feet, built on a private client’s property by a Dutch architect. You know you want one.
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Django played better with just two fingers than you could play with seven hands and your face.
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French cultural minister Aurélie Filippetti says the government is creating a fund to help struggling independent bookstores to ensure that...
