On Writing
This page gathers material from my blog that might be of special interest to writers. Fellow writers, I hope you find something helpful here. (More information about this page here.)
Public Writer, Private Writer
What Henry James’s story “The Private Life” tells us about writers and book tours.
Leonardo, procrastinator
Leonardo da Vinci’s epic procrastination and the practical use of procrastination as a sign that your work (rather than yourself) may be dull.
Think Quantity
Looking over the numbers of prolific artists and innovators reinforces the basic rule: Creativity is a function of the quantity of work produced.
Why do writers like working in coffee shops?
Why would a bustling Starbucks be conducive to writing? It may be an antidote to procrastination.
What Creativity Means
Creativity is not about making something out of nothing. It is about making something new out of old things. To create, you must remix.
The Five Commandments
A few rules for a novelist (or any artist, presumably) struggling to get a new project started.
Drawing Circles
Lessons for creatives from two famous circles, Giotto’s O and the enso of Japanese calligraphy.
Experimental Writers vs. Conceptual Writers
Economist David Galenson posits that there are two types of writers: experimenters, a group that includes Dickens, Twain, and Virginia Woolf; and visionaries, such as Melville, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway.
Vita Brevis, Ars Brevior
A good but not great movie from 1965 is a reminder how short-lived most art is.
Writing Like It’s 1999
Why I use a ten-year-old, slow, WiFi-free ThinkPad: it’s the perfect writer’s computer.
How Writers Write: Ian McEwan
A peek into the process of one of one of my favorite writers, Ian McEwan.
Dickens’ Outlines
Dickens’ notes are a rare opportunity for a young writer to watch a master at work.
A Lesson from Dickens
In 1839, 27-year-old Charles Dickens was already a superstar. Then he did a strange thing: he applied to law school.
Title Trouble
The struggle to name my third novel, which would ultimately be called “Defending Jacob.”
A Thousand Words a Day
I usually avoid words-per-day quotas, but with a deadline looming I had to try.
Makers vs. Managers
All writers are both makers and managers. The trick is to keep the two roles separate.
Capote and Ellison: Blocked or just procrastinating?
What happened to two famous writers who fell silent?
On Moving to a New Publisher in the UK
Being dropped by one English publisher is humbling, being picked up by another is inspiring.
Creating Writers: Do MFA Programs Produce Dull Writers?
Are MFA programs to blame for all the dull books out there?
Writing in the Age of Distraction
Cory Doctorow on getting your work done without quitting the internet cold-turkey.
Suck, Squeeze, Bang, Blow: Why Writers Get Stuck
Writers get stuck for a reason: the mind is working on a problem.
The Way We Write Now: Novelists and Their Blogs
Why I reluctantly started blogging, after years of resisting. (This is the first post I ever wrote for this blog.)