This is an edited version of a blog post that ran previously on 49 Writers. “If you’re going to live your life based on delusions, and you are, because we all do, then why not at least select a delusion that is helpful? Allow me to suggest this one. The work wants to be made […]
Ideas That Want to Be Written by Andromeda Romano-Lax Read More »
The day after graduating from J-school in Missoula I unplugged my laptop, packed my boots and clothes, and gave away the pine desk I had made. I mailed home a couple boxes of school newspaper stories, black-and-white prints and negatives, and a dozen books—including the AP Stylebook. It was June 1991, with flowers on trees
The Trail to Words #5 by Seth Kantner Read More »
This week I had a phone meeting about a writing project that has extremely long odds. The meeting itself was a blast. After the call ended, I kept checking in with my feelings, trying to imagine the disappointment I’d feel if the project fizzled. But no matter how I pressed and pinched, seeking anticipatory emotional
An invited essay in applied anthropology, “Alan Boraas and Kahtnuht’ana Qenagu: Preserving and Renewing an Alaska Native Language” was published May 22, 2022 by Kerry D. Feldman and Phyllis A. Fast in Profiles in Anthropological Praxis: An International Casebook, ed. by Terry M. Redding and Charles C. Cheney. Excerpt: “The project (a Dena’ina language self-learning
This week, I completed a 9-day DIY at-home writing retreat. My husband was out of town visiting a hospitalized family member, which gave me lots of time and space for the kind of purposefully unbalanced work marathon I’ve always needed, a few times per book. I didn’t talk to myself out loud, but I did
My friend Christi Chiello, one of the funniest human beings I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing, recently posted a screenshot of a comment she’d received on an Instagram post: “I wouldn’t wanna live in a world where people are blind and clearly not intelligent enough to understand that women are scientifically less funny than
Experiments in Comedic Writing by Andrea Staats Read More »
I first encountered the name Lael Morgan in a copy of an old letter to Lael on my Aunt Betsy’s desk. In the letter my aunt had praised Lael’s book And the Land Provides: Alaskan Natives in a Year of Transition for its vivid and empathetic portrayal of native life in rural Alaska at the
Lael’s Legacy Lives On by Linda Fritz Read More »
It was March, and in the morning darkness, the birch trees that lined the trail stood like ghosts in the snow. I say ghosts in part because I wasn’t wearing my glasses (they fog up in the cold, making the world blurry anyway), but also because the birch’s presence felt palpable, haunting. Enticing. Am I
On Writing Place by Daryl Farmer Read More »
I have listened to a lot of writing advice in my life. The advice always emphasizes the importance of actually writing–not just thinking about it, not reading about it, not getting everything just right at your desk before starting. Usually it’s more urgent, like, “Sit down every day at the same time and write without
Barry Said Wait by Marcia Wakeland Read More »
Warflower: A True Story of Family, Service and Life in Alaska by Robert Stark “On my mother’s side of the family, every male served in the military. On my father’s side of the family, every male served prison time. My brother went to prison and I joined the army, we pride ourselves on family traditions.
Spotlight on New Works: Warflower by Robert Stark Read More »
