Some days just drain the imagination, drive, and determination. This little video was a nice gleam at the end of a long gray day. What do you do for fun anyway?
Maybe I’m too tall to write a short story.
Writing a short story feels like going out without my makeup on and my hair done. What writing comes more naturally to you? What puts your writing in the best light?
50k is all you need.
Well, November is rolling in closer--and I've signed up again for NaNoWriMo. I've already got an idea and a title to go with it. What about you? Any takers?
Cultivation, anyone?
This evening I read this line from Molly Crabapple in The New York Times: What you get in life isn't about how much you cultivate your talent; it's about how you cultivate your name. Early today I talked to a woman whose children go to my son's school. We have friends in common, we've chatted …
Gifts, please.
"You never make any art for me," my son says. "A.," I reply, "yes, I have. You have a picture on your bulletin board over your bed." "Let me go see," he says. He runs to his room. He runs back. "Not in a frame," he says. "You never make me art in a frame." …
So much sifting…
I'm sifting through ideas and have little to say. I'm also trying to finish several short stories. When the stories are done, I'll have to decide what to include in my MFA application... If some of you have the time and inclination, I'd love to have a reader. Let me know if you wouldn't mind …
Is that a review in your hand or are you just here to kill me?
Do you read book reviews? Sometimes I read a review that makes me want to read the book--like this review of Her Fearful Symmetry--and also fills me with despair. Or maybe it is jealousy. Hard to tell the difference. I tell my son that he should worry about his own work and not everyone else's, …
Continue reading Is that a review in your hand or are you just here to kill me?
Have you worked hard enough, yet?
"Teacher, the test was hard," he said to me. "Well, you did miss a lot of classes," I replied. "Yes, I know," he said and smiled, slightly embarrassed and charming. "But, it was very hard for me." I smiled back. "And you didn't have the book for the first four weeks." This was week five. …
Snap Your Fingers
Today a student was asked what he would change about himself if he could anything with a snap of his fingers. He said he wouldn't change anything. Some people might say this if they have accepted themselves flaws and all. Some people might say this if they believe themselves right. They can't conceive that anything …
The Reader
Do you focus on the negative? On Friday morning went down to IF+D where my art is for sale. Kristen, the owner and fellow crazy coffee drinker, reminds me of the woman who had spent the last month reading my novel over her lunch hour. Once or twice a week, this woman was coming into …
Marta Bacon 