My partner and I were talking the other day about how we form thoughts, and I mentioned that my thoughts are not images or sounds or sentences, but are words that I feel in my mouth. I don’t visualize writing in my mind’s eye…because I don’t have a mind’s eye. And so anything I thinkContinue reading “Drafts and daydreams”
Tag Archives: books
Preorder for TRUE STORIES available now!
I’m delighted to share that my first book of poetry, True Stories, is available for preorder! It will be released on June 18th, 2024! Here’s a description of the book: Inspired by various disasters, from climate change to the pandemic, the poems of True Stories whirl together extreme weather, isolation, and interpersonal dysfunction into aContinue reading “Preorder for TRUE STORIES available now!”
In the middle of reading
It is, obviously, good practice to wait to write a review of a book until after you’ve read it. Waiting to review a book until after you’ve read it means that you’ve given the book a fair shot. You’re able to speak intelligently about the work as a whole. You avoid cherry picking information fromContinue reading “In the middle of reading”
Post-AWP thoughts
The last time I attended AWP1 was in 2020, the ill-fated San Antonio year. At the time, I decided that that experience was all I would need of this particular writing conference. It was a weird year, small because so many people had decided not to attend (since AWP had not made the decision forContinue reading “Post-AWP thoughts”
(Re-)reading in context
For my PhD program, we have two choices of qualifying exam to reach candidacy: the written exam option (basically, a timed essay in response to a set of questions set by the committee), or the portfolio option (two collections of work based on two reading lists, which can then be the foundation for a dissertationContinue reading “(Re-)reading in context”
Ten years after my first story
Yesterday, I was talking to a class about the process of revision after having read Joy Williams’s “Uncanny Singing That Comes from Certain Husks.” I haven’t read very much Joy Williams (I was substituting for a fellow PhD student’s Beginning Creative Writing class, which is how I encountered this essay), but as much as IContinue reading “Ten years after my first story”
Author Toolbox Blog Hop: Judging books by their covers
We all know the old adage: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” However, as much as we’d like to believe that our novels, short story collections, and other writing would be judged by the content and the craft, so much depends on that first impression, on getting people to pick up your book inContinue reading “Author Toolbox Blog Hop: Judging books by their covers”
Caroliena Cabada 