Entries from September 2009
Sep. 27, 2009
Eavan Boland: “Quarantine”
In the worst hour of the worst season / of the worst year of a whole people / a man set out from the workhouse with his wife….
Tags: Eavan Boland · poems
Sep. 24, 2009
Barbara Mensch’s photographs of Fulton Fish Market
A few weeks ago I wrote about photographer Barbara Mensch’s lovely images of New York. Barbara recently wrote to point me to another series of her photographs, this one depicting the Fulton Fish Market in Manhattan, which was closed in 2005. The photographs are different from the ones that first caught my eye — grittier, [...]
Tags: New York
Sep. 21, 2009
A cabin made of hours
“Like so many of the key skills of the writer’s life, the solution [to being distracted by the Internet] comes down to (groan) self-discipline. I came back resolved to break my habit of checking email and the Web (even to handle essential, chore-like tasks) whenever the urge strikes. I’ve converted to the ‘no email before [...]
Tags: procrastination · quotes for writers
Sep. 18, 2009
Biocriminology
“There’s certainly a brain basis to crime … the brains of violent criminals are physically and functionally different from the rest of us.”— Adrian Raine A burgeoning science suggests that crime is caused in part by biological factors, that is, by traits inherited through DNA or by the brain malfunctioning in very specific ways. Adrian [...]
Tags: behavioral genetics · Defending Jacob · law · science · video
Sep. 17, 2009
A Thousand Words a Day
I usually avoid words-per-day quotas, but with a deadline looming I had to try
Tags: quotas · writing life · writing tips
Sep. 13, 2009
Throwaway novels
“The bestseller in fiction took a precipitous turn in the 1980s towards what might be termed the ‘throwaway read,’ a novel with a shelf life of yogurt.” — Nina Siegal (via)
Tags: quotes
Sep. 11, 2009
Writer’s Room: W. Somerset Maugham
Maugham at his writing desk (photo)
Tags: Somerset Maugham · Writers Rooms
Sep. 10, 2009
Writer’s Room: Cory Doctorow
Cory Doctorow at his desk (photo)
Tags: Cory Doctorow · Writers Rooms
Sep. 10, 2009
How Writers Write: J.G. Ballard
J.G. Ballard discusses his writing process.
Tags: How Writers Write · J.G. Ballard
Sep. 8, 2009
Inside “The Strangler”: The New Boston, 1963
One of the frustrations in writing a historical novel like The Strangler is that so much of your research never sees the light of day. When the book is done, all those index cards so lovingly compiled get wrapped up in a rubber band and tossed into a drawer, and the reader is left to [...]
Tags: Inside "The Strangler" · The Strangler
