Links for Writers

Links for WritersGood morning! This week’s Flash Narrative will appear tomorrow as a guest post on Christi Craig’s excellent blog, Writing Under Pressure (be sure to read her current post about anxiety and writing). Later this week, I also plan to wrap up my posts on The Shallows and to write more about Barbara Sher’s theory of Scanners.

In the meantime, here are some links I’ve enjoyed recently:

From Hawleyville:Rockin’ the Apocolypse” (exquisite and candid writing on the end of days and making a living)

Even so, I couldn’t help but think, as I sat there on the verge of a boredom coma in my office on a pretty spring day, about the Doomsday that was supposed to be today. I realized with a startling intensity that if I really thought the world would end in two days, I would so NOT be doing what I was doing at that moment. Read More

From The Wall Street Journal:The Author as Agent of Change” (Tom Shippey on Cory Doctorow’s publishing decision for his new short story collection)

The book is what Mr. Doctorow calls an “experiment in publishing.” You can buy a trade paperback—choosing from one of four covers—through Mr. Doctorow’s own website (craphound.com), through the print-on-demand service lulu.com or through Amazon. You can purchase a handbound, limited-edition hardcover for $275. Or you can download it, free, as an e-book, leaving a donation of whatever you wish. For a price, presumably fairly high, Mr. Doctorow will even write a story to order, on your premise. What then? You could have a personalized copy, or (we guess) you could order 50 copies for your friends.. Read More

From Robert McCrum at The Guardian:A Lesson in Teaching Writing” (on emulating the masters as a way to teach oneself good writing, with excellent and practical examples)

I’m agnostic on the teaching-of-writing question. I have no doubt that there are some great creative-writing professors, just as there are also plenty of charlatans and timewasters. I certainly do believe that you can show would-be writers examples of good prose, as an inspiration. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that one way to limber up for one’s own writing is to read, at random, from other books. Not so you fall under an influence, but just enough to be reminded about the magic potential of original prose. Read More

Book Trailer: Tolstoy and the Purple Chair (does everyone else love book trailers as much as I do?)

2 thoughts on “Links for Writers”

  1. Lisa, I can’t wait to post your flash narrative! And, I love book trailers, too — especially this one. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair looks like a great book!

    • Christi, the Tolstoy and the Purple Chair trailer feels perfect to me! It definitely makes me want to read the book.

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