The first book length memoir I wrote came in at 689 pages. Clearly I had a lot to say back then. The first edit cut 300 pages but still, there were too many pages left to read. At the other end of the wordiness spectrum is a succinct little memoir like the classic,“Wedding dress for […]
Guest Blogger: Judith Conte on Mini-Memoirs Read More »
There are times when empirical approaches to history simply don’t do the job. I say this both as a novelist and as a former archaeologist and historic preservation specialist with two college degrees in the subject. For example, there is a mountain in the northern part of the Wrangells called Pingpong Mountain. Back when I
Guest Blogger Kris Farmen: Desktop History Read More »
It is a common complaint of my partner that I make a mess of our shared home office—and to be fair, she’s totally right. My half of the room is covered in stacks of books, papers, clippings, and tape, not only on the desk itself, but in concentric rings around it; her desk bears only
Guest Post by Kate Partridge: Research at the Heart of Creative Writing Read More »
My fourth book is about to come out in print—the advance copies, in fact, may already be out by the time this post runs—and my mind lately has been dwelling on my first book, The Devil’s Share. It’s the story of a kid from Fairbanks named Jack who goes to work for a hunting lodge
Guest Blogger Kris Farmen: First Book Read More »
Everyone has a “what I’m doing in Alaska” story: I got a job; I met someone; I watched too much Discovery Channel; I crossed a land bridge from Asia sometime between 60,000 and 50,000 BCE. But nobody moves here to become a comedy writer. Nobody, except me. You see, I spent most of my 20s
Guest Blogger Geoff Kirsch: Everything I Can Teach You About Comedy Writing in 3 Hours Read More »
April is a hard season for moose, and harder still for a calf like this one who recently died near my surf shack on the Kenai Peninsula. Of the half-dozen moose that frequent the area, this one stood out because I recognized him as a two-year-old who had just been told by his mother to
Guest Blogger Kris Farmen: Blood and Guts Read More »
One of my Christmas gifts from a good friend was a box of Palomino Blackwing 602 pencils (complete with extra erasers), the model I am assured has been the writing tool of choice for “many Oscar, Grammy, and Pulitzer Prize winners throughout the 20th Century.” Who knew it was only my choice of writing implement that
Frank Soos: Now What? (a bonus blog by the Alaska State Writer Laureate) Read More »
The typewriter rested on top of a bookcase at chest height. The writer came to it in the early morning. Standing, he read the previous day’s work. He had stopped at a place in the story where he knew what would come next. Then he began again. Between every two words, he inserted extra space
Peter Porco, Guest Post – Ernest Hemingway: The Writer as O.C.D. Artist Read More »
The reality of a Fairbanks winter is setting in. It’s cold, around zero most every day this week at our house, and around minus 20 in town. There’s comfort in this hard windless cold, so solid a person feels he can lean against it. Not so the dark. Today there are fewer than four hours
Frank Soos: Down in the Hole Read More »
The essay is, I think, the messiest of forms. Which might be why I like it so much. There are no set rules for length or structure, certainly not for content. In her introduction to the very first Best American Essays collection (that would be in 1986), Elizabeth Hardwick wrote that an essay “at least
Frank Soos: Essaying the Essay Read More »
