August 2012

“I don’t think you need to keep rehearsing your instincts. Far better to seek out models of what you can’t do.” —John Updike Among the things writers are told, there are two seemingly universal laws. Show, Don’t Tell. Write What You Know. It’s hard to imagine a piece of fiction where the first doesn’t apply,

Narrative pacing is the novelist’s biggest challenge. ~Donald Maass Pacing sounds like the easiest thing in the world: speed up, slow down. You know, like an accelerator. Au contraire, my dear writers. Pacing is hard. Let’s start with the fact that as readers we take it for granted. We know when an essay or story

Hope to see you at our latest Synergies event tonight, August 10, 7:00 pm! In addition to a wonderful evening of poetry, prose, and music with visiting writer Dan-Beachy Quick and Alaska musician Emily Kurn, we will be selling the last six signed limited edition John Haines broadsides, featuring “Poem of the Forgotten” – an

This truly is your turn, and it’s a subject we’ll hope to visit more than once this month. What should we look for in our next Alaska State Writer? What pet projects do you wish a future Alaska State Writer would take on? Anything else you have to say on the subject? Nominations are open

Welcome to our August featured writer, Lucian Childs, who not only has written some great posts for us in the past, but also volunteers regularly for 49 Writers. Thank you, Lucian! The writers I meet in Alaska are a varied lot: people writing memoir, creative nonfiction of all types, novelists. But short story writers? There

Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely. ~Karen Kaiser Clark When I first began publishing, I coveted the qualities of a real writer: persistence, diligence, tenaciousness, enthusiasm, confidence, humility, patience, and of course a thick skin. But one was rarely mentioned, and I believe it’s among the most vital: flexibility. By flexibility, I don’t

The judges have decided! Here at last are the three finalists from this year’s run of the best in bad prose and poetry. Thank you to everyone who took up the challenge and sent us their cleverly contrived entries – we certainly had a lot of fun reading them and hope you did too –

Thanks to all of you who submitted entries to this year’s Ode to a Dead Salmon contest! The judges have deliberated and the three finalists will be announced in our blog post on Monday, August 6 – be sure to vote for your favorite. Thank you again to our illustrious judges, Nancy Lord and Bill