Category: On Writing

  • Learning to critique

    This spring I’m teaching a critiquing class. The group meets once a week and we read and discuss work brought in by participants. I bring a timer to keep us on track and to ensure that discussion time is divided fairly. I also offer a writing prompt, week-to-week in case they need ideas to keep…

  • A few words about forgiveness and culpability

    And I’m speaking of the Viswanathan publishing scandal, which I am finding especially troubling. I know she did wrong, no question. But can’t we (meaning the people in the business of publishing) examine this a little more closely? Can’t we take a minute to wonder if maybe we bear some responsibility for this happening in…

  • Drought, flood, drought, flood

    I sent work out during all of 2005 and got nothing in return for my efforts. No love, no ink, no shred of interest, and rejection after rejection after rejection. A year’s worth of it. Hard to imagine going a year with next to nothing in the way of positive strokes, but it’s the writer’s…

  • Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

    My college roommate had a serious David Bowie obsession. Today I’ve been thinking of his song “Changes.” Turn and face the strange, ch-ch-changes. Facing change is essential if we are to grow and strengthen in our art. That song, Changes, marked a pivotal time in Bowie’s career, and became the first song of his to…