The Bottom Line
This week I turned in the last project of the final semester of my MFA program. All that remains between me and my degree is a residency and some bookkeeping. The latter has a literal side in this case – … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Life as an Author
Plot Twist Three in the Side Pocket
I’ve taken up pool again, after a hiatus from serious play of about fifteen years. I played a lot in my youth, and got good enough that in my dorm they gave me all kinds of handicaps, including making me … Continue reading →
Behind the Scenes
All right, it’s Friday the 13th, I’m late in posting, and I find I just can’t be that serious today. So, I’ve been thinking about the self-publishing explosion, the Justice Department suit against Apple and the Big Six publishing houses,* … Continue reading →
Legacy of a Novel
I’m reading The Hunger Games right now, having waited to see the movie first.* Tempted as I am to talk about it in terms of craft and structure, I saw something on television last night that brought a different concern … Continue reading →
Planning for the Future
I’m due to graduate in August. I have one manuscript under my belt, and I’m working on the next. I’m reaching this stage at an exciting time. Writers have more options than ever before. There are the Big Six publishing … Continue reading →
One Night Stands for Novelists
I have friends who only want to write novels. They have no interest in writing poetry or essays beyond whatever classwork might be assigned. Left to their own devices, they would devote all of their writing time to novels. I … Continue reading →
The Terror of Finished
It was a marvelous residency, but I’ll talk about that in another post. Right now I’m thinking about my thesis novel. My thesis is in the hands of my second reader. Its fate is outside my control, and will be … Continue reading →
The Next Step
So, if all goes well, sometime in the next few weeks, my thesis novel will be approved by my thesis advisor and second reader. When that time comes, I will have a manuscript that is about as finished as it … Continue reading →
Summaries
“What is your book about?” I hear that question and the first thing I think is, “about seventy thousand words.” That isn’t what the asker wants to know, of course. The asker wants tell a whole seventy-thousand-word story in fifteen … Continue reading →
Blind Spots
When I first considered going for an MFA, I faced this question: should I bother? My assumption was that I should, but in my online research I kept finding echoes of that question, often expressed by people who had completed … Continue reading →