Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2020 i The Writer

Authors frequently encourage writers to put pen to paper every single day. While I certainly understand the sentiment – no book was ever magicked into existence without an abundance of butt-in-chair time on the author’s part – sometimes I worry that it puts too much pressure on the act of creation and not enough on the act of absorption. I’m far from the first to compare writers to sponges, soaking in our surroundings to later wring art from our stores. But as the first long winter of the pandemic approaches for many of us, I fear some have precious little to wring. Sometimes it’s a simple matter of being stretched too thin, with too many obligations drawing time and attention away from our art, and I feel such deep sympathy…

1. FESTIVE PUNCTUATION MARKS This set of three red, white, and green glittery punctuation marks includes a question mark, an exclamation point, and an ampersand. $10 for 3, etsy.com/shop/atomicenterprises 2. A VERY MERRY COMIC-BOOK CHRISTMAS At this Etsy shop, merrymakers can choose ornaments made from either traditional black-and-white pages or DC comic books. $15.50, etsy.com/shop/capekraken 3. BOOK BULBS These recycled book globe ornaments trade traditional silvered cap-and-hook fixtures for more earthy hemp string. $14, etsy.com/shop/roottovine 4. TONI MORRISON SILHOUETTE “Language alone protects us from the scariness of things with no names,” reads the Toni Morrison quote lasercut on this cherry wood ornament. $10, etsy.com/shop/pigseyart 5. AUTHOR PORTRAITS Deck the halls this year with portraits of Langston Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Maya Angelou, Jack Kerouac, and more. $30, etsy.com/shop/poetryportraitsgifts “Wine and cheese…

I lie curled up in a towel, drowsy on mama’s lap. My green psychedelic-print bikini is wet and cold, but mama is warm. She runs her fingers through my damp hair, teasing out snarls with one hand. The other hand holds a fan of cards. Bella, two years younger, is curled up in her own hotel towel asleep on a nearby lounge chair, shaded by a big blue parasol. Rosemary spreads a set of three threes and a set of three eights on the table, and before she discards, my mother feigns a scowl and asks, “Terremoto?” Rosemary discards an ace with a dramatic flip and responds with a sly smile, “No, Clara, todavía, no.” Not yet, she answers. The water shimmers on the pool, a gathering place for ex-pat…

“The problem with books is that they end,” Caroline Kepnes, author of You, has said. This is certainly true for the reader, so enthralled by a book that they don’t want the story to stop. For the writer, then, pulling off a successful ending is crucial in satisfying such an enthralled reader. Endings are important in giving your reader a sense of closure – or at least a final look – from all that has come before. They’re also notoriously difficult to write. How much closure do you need? Are the guidelines the same for a short story and a novel? What makes a good ending? What causes a bad one? When should you write your ending? Should you at least plan it in advance, then focus on building up to…

Find the perfect MFA, MA, or PhD program with our annual listing. NEW ENGLAND BENNINGTON COLLEGE Degree type: Low-residency MFA in writing. Concentrations: Fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Contact: Bennington College, One College Dr., Bennington, VT 05201. 802- 440-4452. writing@bennington.edu bennington.edu/MFAWriting BOSTON UNIVERSITY Degree type: MFA in creative writing. MFA in playwriting also available. Concentrations: Fiction and poetry. Contact: Creative Writing Program, 236 Bay State Rd., Boston, MA 02215. 617-353-2510. crwr@bu.edu bu.edu/creativewriting BROWN UNIVERSITY Degree type: MFA in literary arts. Concentrations: Fiction, poetry, or digital/cross-disciplinary writing. Contact: Literary Arts, Brown University, Box 1923, 68.5 Brown St., Providence, RI 02912. 401-863-3260. writing@brown.edu brown.edu/academics/literary-arts EMERSON COLLEGE Degree type: MFA in creative writing; MA in publishing and writing. Concentrations: Literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Contact: Department of Writing, Literature & Publishing, 120 Boylston St.,…

This month, my first book, From Hang Time to Prime Time, comes out. I had dreamt of writing a book in the way some folks dream of traveling to the moon or winning Powerball. It would be nice to be in that position, sure, but getting there seemed incomprehensible, too foolish to consider. Yet here I am. And you can be here, too. Really. Now that I have some distance, I can see that writing this book was a lot like pitching an article. The difference: It took a lot more time – seven years – to go from hazy idea to tangible object. This is how I did it. I found a larger theme in a smaller story. In February 2013, I wrote a feature on Marvin Gaye’s rendition…

AS a freelance writer, you have more options for magazines to pitch your ideas to than you may realize. When you peruse the racks at Barnes & Noble or other newsstands, you only see a fraction of the publications circulating the country. Most people are familiar with general-interest consumer magazines like Better Homes & Gardens, People, and AARP The Magazine, but many more lurk in the background. Have you heard about Bee Culture, a trade magazine for professional beekeepers and those interested in the science of honeybees? Or how about the niche publication Teddy Bear Times & Friends, which explores all aspects of the wonderful world of teddy bears? Then there’s Get Lost, Australia’s leading adventure travel magazine. All of these, along with many other niche, trade, and international magazines,…

A lot of editors highly recommend reading poetry as a way to improve our craft. But should we read poetry even if we don’t understand it? I have a lot of respect for poets, but often I don’t understand what I’m reading, and that discourages me at time to read it.—PETRIFIED BY POETRY Dear Petrified, Heck, you didn’t think you were all alone in this, did you? Because there are a whole bunch of people who stay away from things we don’t understand. (One could say this a key reason people are afraid of diversity, but that’s for another column.) Look, no one likes to feel stupid. And reading things – or watching things, like French movies that don’t seem to actually end – that you don’t “get” is a…