MoodyTunes

I found an interesting article at The Guardian, via The New Yorker, yesterday — they (Guardian) asked a bunch of writers to send in their random tidbits of writing advice.
Margaret Atwood, Richard Ford, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Enright, Neil Gaiman, and others responded. It’s a fun list of lists to read over if you’re [...]

Richard Ford, in his introduction to Barry Hannah’s story collection “Airships,” uses the phrases “what’s-real-at-ground-level” and “what is the matter at hand” when describing Hannah’s stories, how they work, and why. As in, Hannah has a unique and twisted way of getting to what is central and what is real — the matter at hand. [...]

Check out an essay of mine called “Shiny Happy Pirate” at FRESH YARN.
…and prepare to lose a day, or more, as you read the many, many wonderful personal essays on the site. They’re hilarious and heartbreaking and everywhere in between. Your boss will be weeping, for sure, because you won’t be doing any work.

I rarely step inside an antique store — I’m allergic to both dust and buying furniture — but when I do, I like to find the shelves of old books. A ratty book is like a time machine. I assume the role of a book or journal’s intended reader. Student in 1924. Literary journal subscriber [...]

A couple sites you might find interesting:
American Short Fiction’s blog. What they do (and I don’t) is update regularly…with interesting stuff! An amazing concept. I think blogs are the way of the future.
Wordnik. A wacky new all-in-one dictionary thingie that tells you everything about a word. Definitions, synonyms, antonyms, etc. etc. but also fun stuff [...]

I just saw that Kelly Link put her story collection “Magic for Beginners” online, free of charge, so go download it.
“Catskin” is one of my favorite stories out there. Link read from it at AWP Atlanta (2006, I think? Sheesh.) and I was hooked. I also like “Some Zombie Contingency Plans” and “Stone Animals.”
Hope you [...]

A few months ago the local arts council asked for stories inspired by or focusing on out-of-the-way places — their publication is called ArtNews, and the issue’s theme is “Far Flung Beaufort County.” I contributed a story based on a sign that’s posted on the side of a road on St. Helena Island.
The story [...]

I listened to an interview with B. B. King today. The interviewer asked King “Is there anything you wish you could do better?” and King said, “Yeah, sing and play guitar.” He went on to explain that he wasn’t being a smartass — he has always tried to improve, even now, at age 83 and [...]