It started with reading too many tweets about AWP, the enormous conference that drew 6,000 writers to Philadelphia last month. From my mother-in-law’s Toronto apartment, I saw photos of writers I admire, dressed up for a night out—wait, that author I know well knows that author I know only via her recent book, a favorite …
Today I did an itty-bitty trail run following strict doctor’s orders: fifteen minutes maximum; alternate running with walking; stop at the faintest niggle of discomfort. All went well and I’m hoping that after I manage three of these in a row, pain-free, I’ll slowly return to regular running following a six-week prescribed break. If not, …
I put away my scale for the month of January. Generally, I believe in weighing myself daily, which research supports as helping with weight control. But I could tell I was investing too much in the flashing numbers, being buoyed or dismayed by small fluctuations instead of putting emphasis on real health: how I feel, …
In Search of Lost Time, 2022: Not Another Productivity Post by Andromeda Romano-Lax Read More »
Who among us doesn’t have a dead novel or memoir that resisted all CPR efforts? Who hasn’t wondered if some part of it couldn’t be saved or repurposed? With that in mind, I’ll share a few lessons I learned from my experience doing a “page one rewrite” of my novel currently titled “Annie and the Wolves.”
In August 2017, I had one of the strangest experiences of my writing life. I opened a file in a folder associated with a novel I’d given up on five years earlier, read a few unfamiliar paragraphs, What’s this?, and then a few pages more, I know I wrote it; I just don’t remember writing it. I kept going all the way to the end of the chapter, and found myself intrigued, What the heck is going to happen next?
49 Writers and the Anchorage Museum present a talk and book signing with Caroline Van Hemert on Wednesday, March 20 from 7-8:30 PM for her newly released book, a memoir that blends Alaska adventure, natural history and personal narrative. Hear stories about her 4,000-mile wilderness journey from the Pacific rainforest to the Chukchi Sea. Her research …
A true-crime book about multiple grisly murders and the birth of the FBI that begins with descriptions of wildflowers. A commercial thriller that opens with immediate action and tension, featuring a woman spying on her neighbor, in the middle of a tawdry act. A literary novel full of unlikable characters in which we discover, …
Beyond hooked: compelling opening pages and an upcoming workshop Read More »
In a review in the Anchorage Daily News, Nancy Lord called Patrice Gopo’s new essay collection, All the Colors We Will See, “a very welcome addition to the open-hearted discussion we all should be having.” When I read the book last month, some essays made me teary, while others sparked family conversations or sent me online, …
Andromeda Romano-Lax | All the Colors We Will See: Interview with Patrice Gopo Read More »
With few exceptions, nearly all authors and would-be authors are better off with an agent. But getting an agent is notoriously hard—in many cases, as hard as getting published. The problem isn’t the system. And it’s not that writers are lazy. The problem is that many of us are so tired after writing and revising …
Continued from part II. THE FINAL UPLOAD Only a few more steps and my 2002 out-of-print travel narrative, Searching for Steinbeck’s Sea of Cortez, would be available to e-readers. I did not use the “Kindle Create” feature, now available at Amazon’s KDP, for example, so I can’t speak to its ability to ease the chore …
