Archive for the ‘Personal Thoughts’ Category
Rebecca Rasmussen came to Columbia to give a reading at PS Gallery at the start of May this year, just after her wonderful debut novel was published. I had been speaking with Rebecca for some time on twitter and invited her to make the trip down I-70 from St. Louis to visit. Her reading was Click here to continue…
This afternoon I shall be climbing into a car with my good friend Chris Stevens and we’ll be setting off south. Destination: New Orleans. We’ll be in a Mini Cooper, which doesn’t seem very Jack Kerouac to me, but never mind. It’ll probably be more comfortable than a battered old van, I suppose, and we Click here to continue…
There was once an episode of Friends when Ross (I think) both bought an apothecary’s cabinet, or some such, from Pottery Barn, and then pretended that he’d picked it up in an auction somewhere. He was too ashamed to admit where he’d really bought it from (he was, of course, found out, because someone else Click here to continue…
When my first book was published, twelve long years ago, my characters cussed and cursed their way through the unlikely adventures I had concocted for them like drunken sailors on shore leave. Their conversations were veritable cesspits of fruity idiom. At the time I thought I was being terribly clever. I believed that this was Click here to continue…
Last week I received a direct message via Twitter from the lovely Camille Noe Pagan, whose debut novel, THE ART OF FORGETTING, was published this week by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin (US). Camille was putting together a blog post for the “Author’s Desk” at Penguin.com about how and when authors find time to read. This Click here to continue…
“Frederick loved America. He loved its big open spaces, the sunsets that drenched the evening sky in blistering color. Above all, he loved the smell of promise that hung in the air. Europe, he could see now, was slowly suffocating under the weight of its own history. In America the future was the only thing Click here to continue…
I have developed a peculiar fondness for making scrambled eggs for my son. I have adapted a recipe I found in Eat Me, the brilliant cook book by Kenny Shopsin, proprietor of Shopsin’s in Greenwich Village. (We were introduced to Shopsin’s by our friend Don, who actually appeared in the hilarious documentary about Kenny that Click here to continue…
[This is an older post that seemed appropriate to revisit today. I finished my six-month rewrite of the manuscript yesterday and sent it back to my publisher in New York. I think (and hope) that it is a much better book than it was six months ago. I am certainly thankful for that. Happy Thanksgiving, Click here to continue…
No, this is not a post about books, or writing. This is a post (actually an edited re-post) about something entirely different. And personal. Ahem. You may want to look away now. So, fair warning having been issued… … the nurse was awfully nice. She asked me what I did, how long had I been Click here to continue…
When it comes to writing, I am a creature of habit. I need my routine; equally important, for me anyway, is where I write. I know people who can dash off stuff in trains, waiting rooms, and especially in coffee shops. This always baffles me. Perhaps I’m just too nosy, or feckless, but I am unable Click here to continue…