The banner of “Secrets Under the Skin,” from Dr. Jill Flanders Crosby’s/University of Alaska’s .edu page. Jill found me. This is an important distinction to make, she often reminds me. She’d read my MFA thesis, a novel about my grandmother’s life in Cuba—a life filled with spirits and ambiguous religious convictions. When she found me, …
This post continues the discussion from Kleven’s post last week, Rural Alaska Lit: Poet as Witness. As an outsider writing about rural Alaska, I was conflicted about my right to speak at all. The idea of poet or writer as witness, would in time give a channel, a justification, for my words and perceptions. The …
Sandra Kleven In December of 1984, I flew out of Bellingham, WA, to take a job, in Bethel, AK. That was my first mistake. The second was bringing my entire family on this jaunt. Even in ‘84, it cost about $2000 to transport five people to the distant bush; once you brought them, it would …
Sandra Kleven: Rural Alaska Lit: Poet as Witness Read More »
“Are you sure about this?” my wife, Sherrie, breathed. She glanced over her shoulder toward the comforting glow of our house on the lake shore, then gazed ahead, where a black wolf stood on the ice in the gathering twilight. Bundled against the Southeast Alaska cold, we’d taken along just one of our three dogs—our …
Nick Jans: Excerpt from the Prologue, A Wolf Called Romeo Read More »
That’s quite a cover shot—a huge, wild Alaska wolf and a Labrador retriever facing each other. What’s the story on that? That’s the actual photo from the opening scene of the book, the first time my wife, Sherrie, our dog, Dakotah, and I met the wolf we’d come to call Romeo. He’s two years old …
In Charles Baxter’s book The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot, he claims that “Between staging and subtexts a bewildering relationship seems to exist. Writers must often use a staggering amount of surface bric-a-brac to suggest an indistinct presence underneath that surface. The stronger the presence of the unspoken and the unseen, the more gratuitous details …
Nick Jans It’s a writer’s dream come true. A major publisher grabs your pitch, offers a wow contract, and off you go. You get good support but plenty of freedom, spot-on editing, and a great cover design. Best-selling authors offer fabulous blurbs. Your book opens to glowing reviews from the usual places, and better-than-good national …
Word count. My goal for each installment of this 4-part experiment was 750 words or fewer (remember?). I’m painfully aware that I was never able to meet that goal and always wrote more. I think I’m not cut out to be a blogger (!) Not only do I write too much, but I also do …
Carolyn Kremers: The Non-Conforming House – Part 4 Read More »
I did not intend to devote this third installment of “The Non-Conforming House” to a single night-dream of mine—so I won’t, for fear you won’t understand. Instead, I’ll begin with a brief comment on my creative process and some background about Carl Jung. True to my resolution to treat this blogging opportunity as an extended/extending …
Carolyn Kremers: The Non-Conforming House – Part 3 Read More »
I hope I won’t be flogged by Deb Vanasse (the kind person who posts these blogs), because I’m submitting this Part 2 on a Sunday instead of a Friday. I have reasons, of course. The truth is, I took a big risk. I decided to write my four blog-posts on Fridays only, and to submit …
Carolyn Kremers: The Non-Conforming House – Part 2 Read More »
