Author post Our Own Day Here 16 Nov 201718 Nov 2017 Author's note: The ideas I explored in this essay--long ago, at a time before the phrase "identity politics" became current--those ideas are still under vigorous dispute, on both right and…
Author post The Value of Forgetting 5 Nov 20175 Nov 2017 A good memory is both blessing and curse to a novelist. As with all two-edged weapons, you have to wield it with caution, lest you damage your own self...or in…
Author post… Recursions, Part 8: “A Moveable Feast,” by Ernest Hemingway 26 Oct 201727 Oct 2017 This is the eighth in a series of short critical looks at books of literary criticism. Yes, a writer writing about writers who write about writers! I composed these for…
Author post Get Thee to an Editor 15 Oct 201719 Nov 2017 There are four rules to follow if you want to self-publish a novel and not embarrass yourself, the publishing industry, and the English language. They are: 1) Write slowly. Write…
Author post… Recursions, Part 7: “The Portable Hannah Arendt,” Edited by Peter Baehr 5 Oct 20175 Oct 2017 This is the seventh in a series of short critical looks at books of literary criticism. Yes, a writer writing about writers who write about writers! I composed these for…
Author post What, You Missed It? 22 Sep 201722 Sep 2017 ...Of course I didn't announce it on this blog, which is why you should sign on to the Crow Tree mailing list, something you can do at the link conveniently…
Author post Getting Over Yourself: Advice for Novelists 17 Sep 201720 Oct 2017 There are many ways to become a good writer, but one of the best ways to become a great one–besides giving yourself a thorough grounding in the mechanics of language–is…
Author post The Beginning of the End 10 Sep 201710 Sep 2017 I came to the last word of the first draft of my third novel yesterday morning. This marks, of course, not the end of the hard work, but only the…
Announcement… To the Finish Line! 4 Sep 20174 Sep 2017 That's Frank's rat rod in the picture above. Of course he doesn't actually race it, but it's as close as I could get to a racing image without indulging in…
Author post Outside the Lines 31 Aug 20172 Sep 2017 It's popular these days to advise folks that they ought to "color outside the lines," though submitting to that counsel often leads to feeble displays of chaos. Sometimes, though, carefully…
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