I’ve heard it said that writers should need to write, and not just want to like any amateur with an idea and a blog. In fact Bukowski has a nice poem espousing that very idea. But here’s the thing: I think that idea is a bunch of crap put forth by pretentious assholes like Bukowski [...]
Entries Tagged as 'writing'
How I Spent My Winter Break “Not Being A Writer”
January 5th, 2010 2 Comments
Tags: blogs · break · Bukowski · Emerson · Joe · Winter · writers' habits · writing
Mixed Feelings: Life After MFA
November 10th, 2009 2 Comments
It has been nearly a year now since I graduated with my MFA from Emerson. So far my biggest claim to fame is that I have a full-time job. Not, of course, remotely related to writing.
This is not exactly the success story that would earn me a spot in the Emerson recruiting package.
Tags: Alum Month · Bridget · emerson MFA · writing
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
Military Writing Sates Modern Desire for the ‘Real’
August 17th, 2009 1 Comment
It isn’t shocking to consider how our media technology has developed parallel to our taste for mainstream media; I think a fitting example is the modern military narrative.
Tags: big screen/small screen week · Chris · military · narrative · war · writing
Characters Welcome: A Paean to the USA Network
August 16th, 2009 2 Comments
Despite the preponderance of reality programming—maybe in spite of, in fact—television is full of great writing. And while the networks continue to pour out the new pilots each fall, it is cable where the magic happens.
Eight years ago, the network began airing Monk, the quirky mystery-comedy show about a former detective overwhelmed with OCD, [...]
Tags: big screen/small screen week · Bridget · writing
Watching Lost: Payoffs Outweigh Frustration; But Only Slightly
August 10th, 2009 No Comments
Warning for Lost Noobs: Possible Spoiler Alert
I find it especially challenging to compare anything else on TV to the mindtrip that has been the last five seasons of Lost (Five years already?!). Lost is a show fueled by, to a greater extent than anything else, its writing.
Tags: big screen/small screen week · Chris · j. j. abrams · Lost · mystery · Television · writing
Weekly Writing Exercise: Fan Fiction
August 7th, 2009 2 Comments
I cut my teeth on a special kind of writing, in a period between my childhood illustrated stories and my foray into professional writing. Before I started writing Serious Literary Fiction, I wrote fan fiction.
Tags: Bridget · fan fiction · weekly writing exercise · writing
Weekly Writing Exercise: School Lunches
June 5th, 2009 1 Comment
As the summer begins and you writers find yourselves with less direction and time to burn, we at Vernacular are starting a new feature: the weekly writing exercise. Every Friday, we’ll provide you with a prompt to inspire your daily writing regimen.
We’ll be culling exercises from some of our favorite writing instructors, from [...]
Tags: Bridget · weekly writing exercise · writing
The Culture Club: Summer Edition
May 27th, 2009 1 Comment
Yesterday was the first meeting of my summer class, David Emblidge’s travel literature. We went over the syllabus, ate cookies, and took a field trip to the Common to check out one of the Civil War monuments. During our class discussion, David made sure to emphasize that we should be framing the class in terms [...]
Tags: emerson courses · Tanya · writing
Funny, ha ha?
May 11th, 2009 No Comments
No joke: it’s hard to be funny. In a recent writerly conversation, a friend admitted that while he considered himself to be a pretty funny guy in person, he absolutely could not translate that to the page. Of course, he said this in a manner that made the rest of us snort beer up our [...]
