Writing
New writing digs
Things have been a bit quiet around here lately. I have a good excuse: We moved into a new house. Well, that’s not entirely true. The house is old: 83 years old. But it’s new to us. The move from a one-bedroom condo to a rambling old three-bedroom cottage has not been without its adjustments, all … Continue reading
A birthday gift
On the occasion of my 42nd birthday, this one’s from me, for delivery at a time to be announced later.
Q&A: Jason Skipper
“Writers talk about the crazy loneliness of touring alone, but no one can prepare you for the ways it manifests throughout many of the days: waking up in a different place, often under threadbare blankets in an old motel room that reeks of decades of carpet cleaner, so you know it’s hiding some awful history … Continue reading
Quasi-NaNoWriMo 2011: Day 3
Here are the grim numbers: Date: November 3 Number of words at the start of writing today: 4,828 Number of words at the conclusion of writing today: 5,291 Words written today: 463 Words written in November: 2,623 Blame modern convenience for the paltry total. I came home from work at midnight, wrote most of a … Continue reading
Quasi-NaNoWriMo 2011, Day 2
Here are the latest tabulations as I keep myself accountable on a novel project I’m tentatively calling Rayfield: Date: November 2 Number of words at the start of writing today: 3,738 Number of words at the conclusion of writing today: 4,828 Words written today: 1,090* Words written in November: 2,160 * — This is why … Continue reading
NaNoWriMo: I’m in! Kinda. Sorta.
As I write this, National Novel Writing Month — known by adherents as NaNoWriMo — is sixty-four minutes old. Hundreds of thousands of would-be, never-will-be and most-definitely-are novelists are taking to their keyboards and trying to pound out a minimum of 50,000 words over the next thirty days. I already have the only NaNoWriMo badge … Continue reading
Awards and other jazz
Lots of great literary news from the weekend. I’ll start with something not great but okay nonetheless: The Summer Son, which was up for the Utah Book Award in fiction, didn’t win. Congratulations to Gerald Elias, who took home the prize for Danse Macabre. Here in Billings, the High Plains Book Awards were handed out … Continue reading
