Since a pretty respectable number of Vernacular’s bloggers are at AWP right now — and we’re handing out postcards to people, apparently, if they didn’t get crushed in Peter’s luggage — I thought I’d share some observations: • Michael Chabon’s keynote was spectacularly, inspiringly, groin-tinglingly fantastic. • If AWP attendees are any kind of representative [...]
Entries Tagged as 'writers'
On “Being A Writer”
January 7th, 2010 1 Comment
Since Joe asked, the list of things I did while at home for the holidays was pretty much the same as his, except substitute “drinking” and “shopping” for “thinking” and “playing Flash games”. But if that seems to put me in agreement with him about the relative weight writing should occupy in a “writer’s” life, [...]
Tags: Andrew · writers · writers' habits
Boston Book Festival
October 20th, 2009 No Comments
Above photo courtesy of A. www.viajar24h.com from Flickr Creative Commons Hey Folks, don’t forget that the Boston Book Festival is this Saturday in Copley Square, 10 am-6pm. Check out the website for a full schedule of events and to see when your must-see authors will be presenting at http://www.bostonbookfest.org/index.php/events/
Tags: books · Boston · Boston Book Festival · emerson MFA · nonfiction · publishing industry · writers · writing · writing process
Crushed
October 18th, 2009 6 Comments
The author crush. One of the many varieties of crushes a person can experience, and particularly powerful to those of us who fancy ourselves writers. We all know we have them. One book, one sentence, even just one turn of phrase takes a reader from being appreciative to being awe struck to wanting to take [...]
Tags: author crush · Chuck Thompson · Llalan · Pico Iyer · reading · writers
You Put Down the Pen and Pick Up What?
July 23rd, 2009 1 Comment
Writers are creative people, right? I mean, that’s what writing is, creating. I’m wondering, though, what are you creating when you’re not writing? As for me, I’m a doodler first. I began drawing and painting many years before I ever decided to write anything, so when I need a break from writing, that’s one of [...]
Tags: patrick · writers · writers' habits
Literary Destinations in Massachusetts
July 9th, 2009 1 Comment
I’ve written before that sometimes I need to get out of Boston and rediscover that Massachusetts has lots of green green trees. Since last week was the end of my summer class, I took advantage of the long July 4th weekend to have a nice relaxing weekend out of the city. The town of Lenox [...]
More On Plagiarism?
June 18th, 2009 1 Comment
This week has apparently been a big one for literature and suing. This instance concerns The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye by a guy calling himself John David (J.D.) California. I say calling himself because his real name is Frederik Colting. California’s book concerns a [...]
Tags: books · fiction · patrick · This Week in Publishing · writers
Recommended Reading (according to Neil Gaiman and some others)
June 11th, 2009 No Comments
I don’t really like to re-post things from around the internet unless it’s particularly interesting, and I this counts in my opinion, plus it continues our theme of summer reading. Last week, Salon.com asked a bunch of authors what they were reading and what they would recommend. Even though some of the books/subject mentioned don’t [...]
Tags: literary taste · patrick · reading · reading habits · Summer Reading Month · writers · writers' habits
Top 10 Writer Stalks of Summer
April 25th, 2009 No Comments
Down south where I come from, literary tourism often involves large amounts of driving–from Flannery O’Connor’s house in Milledgeville, Ga. to William Faulkner’s in Oxford, Miss. (little known fact–Ole Miss’s original mascot was actually the Yoknapatawpha Paw-paw until students lost their minds and changed it to this. A decided mistake!) Fortunately, New England is a [...]
“Science and technology multiply around us.”
April 24th, 2009 No Comments
This is a bit late, but “cult” novelist and short story writer J.G. Ballard died last weekend at age 78.
Tags: Brooks · J. G. Ballard · writers