Or: Should I subject my art to deconstruction? My debut novel took me ten years to research, write, and publish. Perhaps its production was like the return of Jesus–taking an awfully long time but appearing at the right moment. I dunno. What slowed things down...
I’ve written and edited millions of words for Sons of Adamah. (100,000-word doc x 50ish drafts.) A person has to be a bit crazy to do that, no? My creative writing degree required short pieces, so approaching the scale of a novel was daunting. But short pieces...
As I lost all self-control in the hotel’s buffet room, this quote came to mind: “To win back my youth, Gerald, there is nothing I wouldn’t do–except take exercise, get up early, or be a useful member of society. (A Woman of No Importance. Oscar...
YOUR EDITOR WILL NOT SAY: “Wow, I found nothing wrong with your manuscript. First time ever in the history of editing. Congratulations.” “This book has changed my life. Here, let me pay you.” “This is Pulitzer material for...
R.I.P. NaNoWriMo. I never did know you. Every November when you came around, I thought, “Write a novel in one month—are you crazy?” And now you’re gone. For those who don’t know, NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, involved a grinding...
I despaired of ever becoming a writer. Then I read John Gardner’s “On Becoming a Novelist.” John Gardner was an American author who wrote the novels Grendel and The Sunlight Dialogues, among others. He also taught medieval literature and was a...
