A few of you asked me what I learned at my latest MFA residency. You may have expected a shorter answer, nonetheless…. Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of attending a graduate seminar taught by visiting guest Rick Moody (Ice Storm, The Black Veil), often lauded as one of our top chroniclers of contemporary […]
Andromeda: Buy Fresh Fish Here: Rick Moody and Why Great Writing Is Hard to Teach Read More »
We all know there is no single way to write a novel. There are quick-drafters and slow-revisers, people who sweat every word but are basically done when they reach the end, and people who need to get to the end to have the first clue about what they really were trying to say all along,
Andromeda: When to burn or bury, when to revise again, with a nod to Jeffrey Eugenides Read More »
So you’ve written that memoir. Or novel. Or story. Or that non-fiction piece that almost says what you want, but not quite. Maybe what you’ve written is a big sprawling mess and you know it needs work but you can’t imagine where you would start. Maybe you’ve written only a quarter or half and you’re
Deb: Revision Intensive Read More »
As I mentioned last week, I’m in the midst of a self-directed revision workshop, working on two manuscripts at once. That might not be the best approach for some writers, but because I want to experiment with strategies I haven’t used before, I like repeating them in different contexts, feeling out what works and what
Andromeda mentioned last month that for much of grade school she felt like a prisoner. I, on the other hand, loved grade school. It was more than the books and the library and the special programs some teachers way back then managed to cobble together even in the absence of federal mandates and guidelines. I
Make your own rules Read More »
