Writing

Why Academics Should Blog (Redux)

Hugh McGuire | Posted 11.25.2008 | Media


Hugh McGuire

Academia should be a vanguard of our understanding of the world. It's a place where people have the time and space to think about the shape of the world, the source of some of the ideas that transform us.

40,000 E-Books a Day

Hugh McGuire | Posted 11.21.2008 | Media


Hugh McGuire

That's how many e-books are getting downloaded through Stanza, the simple e-book platform for the iPhone/iPod.

Joe the Plumber vs. Joe Heller, the Writer

Erica Heller | Posted 11.18.2008 | Media


Erica Heller

Madness and stupidity are, alas, not limited to the arena of war. The publishing world seems to also have stepped in it, and will now leave us its grimy footprints to follow on the real Bridge to Nowhere.

Why Academics Should Blog

Hugh McGuire | Posted 10.28.2008 | Media


Hugh McGuire

I've been reading a fair bit of academic writing. I've come to the conclusion that all academics should blog.

On Books and Ebooks

Hugh McGuire | Posted 10.28.2008 | Media


Hugh McGuire

Reading an ebooks is just "another way" to be reading, it's not necessarily a replacement of a hard copy. I prefer to talk to people face-to-face, but I recognize the utility of the telephone.

Director David Cronenberg Is Writing A Novel

AP | Posted 10.23.2008 | Entertainment


ROME — Canadian director David Cronenberg is swapping his camera for a pen. The moviemaker, who was attending the Rome Film Festival on Thursda...

First Time Novelist Breaks All Rules with a Winner

Cynthia Kling | Posted 10.08.2008 | Media


Cynthia Kling

"How Far is the Ocean from Here," by Amy Shearn has to be the weirdest, funniest saddest road novel I've ever read. A single 20-something agrees to surrogate for a pair of cozy yuppies.

Publishing Is Dead. Long Live Publishing

Hugh McGuire | Posted 09.29.2008 | Media


Hugh McGuire

There's going to be a shake-up, no doubt. It'll be ugly for publishing companies that don't adjust.

Food Blogging: The Newest Eating Disorder?

Leslie Goldman | Posted 09.19.2008 | Living


Leslie Goldman

Is food blogging the answer to our nation's obesity problem...or a pathway to obsessive behavior?

Harlan Ellison's Mad As Hell

Carol Hoenig | Posted 09.10.2008 | Entertainment


Carol Hoenig

While most everyone is talking politics or about the diversions that pose as politics, a friend sent me this link where author Harlan Ellison rightful...

Writing As Meditation

Susan Smalley | Posted 09.04.2008 | Living


Susan Smalley

Franz Kafka revealed the weirdness of thought, the profoundness of thought, and the commonality of thought in his writings. The writings he left upon...

Roald Dahl: Spy, Playboy

The Daily Telegraph | Chris Irvine | Posted 08.31.2008 | Media


A portrait of Dahl's Second World War years as an undercover agent attached to the British Embassy in Washington is painted in The Irregulars, publish...

What Do Future Voters Think about the Presidential Candidates?

Esther Wojcicki | Posted 08.25.2008 | Living


Esther Wojcicki

Tthe National Writing Project together with Google Docs is sponsoring a program called Letters to Our Next President, to encourage young Americans to write to the candidates.

World Economic Hangover

John Feffer | Posted 07.21.2008 | Politics


John Feffer

My hands tremble when I open a document from the World Trade Organization. The language is either boring, technical, or obscure. But when I figure out what the documents are saying, I feel even worse.

Interview with Nancy Miller, Creator and Executive Producer of Saving Grace

Melissa Silverstein | Posted 07.14.2008 | Entertainment


Melissa Silverstein

Nancy Miller: "There are few shows about the friendships between women because it's mostly men who buy the shows that air. I just don't think they realize how much fun the dramatic relationships between women can be."

The Carrie Bradshaw Effect

Courtney E. Martin | Posted 06.27.2008 | Media


Courtney E. Martin

Post-Carrie, we can't turn a page, web or paper, without reading about a young woman over-sharing details about her love life, while male writers dominate the "thought leader" magazines.

Poetry Is (Anything But) Dead...

Tamsin Rothschild | Posted 06.06.2008 | Living


Tamsin Rothschild

Having just published my first book of poetry, it is incredible to me that after a couple of days at the Book Expo America they tell me that poetry is dead.

In Defense of James Frey and Memoir

Lisa Dale Norton | Posted 05.30.2008 | Entertainment


Lisa Dale Norton

The function of a memoir is to make a truth about a life lived that resonates in the bones of the writer and sends out shock waves of recognition to readers.

At Least She's Writing...

Marcia Meier | Posted 05.30.2008 | Media


Marcia Meier

Emily Gould landed on the cover of The New York Times Magazine over the weekend and created a firestorm of criticism and vitriol. Here's the good news: At least she's writing.

Arthur Miller, Ally McBeal, and Me

Jessica Queller | Posted 05.07.2008 | Living


Jessica Queller

People often ask me how I became a writer. My standard reply: "It took me until the age of twenty-nine to figure out I didn't want to marry a manic-depressive, alcoholic writer, I just wanted to be one."

When Darkness Turns to Day: A.L. Kennedy Talks About the Process of Writing War and Performing Stand-Up Comedy

Ashley Van Buren | Posted 05.07.2008 | Living


Ashley Van Buren

Scottish writer Alison Louise (A.L.) Kennedy's words fall together on the page with such elegant precision, you barely notice how hard she must have worked to get them to that point.

Read This And Become Acclaimed

Jeffrey Shaffer | Posted 05.04.2008 | Living


Jeffrey Shaffer

Attention all potential authors, which means just about everybody above age 12 who's not in an irreversible coma right now. I have started a new publ...

The Way We Word

Catherine Specter | Posted 04.21.2008 | Living


Catherine Specter

How difficult it can be to find the perfect thing to say or write, exactly when you need to say or write it. But thank goodness for words, whether written or spoken.

Final Final Four Report: What a Game!

Lloyd Garver | Posted 04.09.2008 | Entertainment


Lloyd Garver

There's a "rule" among members of the press covering a sporting event which states, "No cheering from the press box." Well, that rule went out the window somewhere in the second half.

Watch Your Language!

Ann Medlock | Posted 03.06.2008 | Media


Ann Medlock

I love this language you and I read, write and speak. And I'm seriously doubting that it's known to some of the unseen people who write the news.