September 15, 2013
Whatever Works: OmmWriter and Distraction-Free Writing
If you’re like me, the greatest threat to your writing—besides lack of confidence, or lack of inspiration, and all that—is getting distracted by other things in your environment. These might […]
August 21, 2013
Keith Montesano: On Writing, First Poetry Books, and His Interview Blog
In 2011, having just finished my MFA, I had, more or less, completed my first poetry manuscript, and felt ready to see it become a book. But, like a lot […]
August 16, 2013
Return of the Gospel of Pen and Paper
I spent a good part of this summer teaching in The Kenyon Review Young Writers’ Workshop, a two-week creative writing program geared towards talented high school students from all over […]
July 31, 2013
Readers’ Deal-Breakers
Over at Book Riot, Becky Cole has just posed the question, “What are your book dealbreakers?” Despite the ambiguous wording, Cole is not referring to actual book “deals,” or publishing. […]
June 20, 2013
Poetry/Medicine: Two Sides, or Two Coins?
My earlier post regarding MFA Day Job–a new blog featuring publishing writers and poets who work outside of academia—was meant to start a conversation about the possible ways writers can […]
May 11, 2013
MFA Day Job: Ideas for Your Possible Future
A number of my conversations with writers this year have revolved around the difficulties of securing a job in the academic world. What happens if you’re a writer and can’t […]
April 20, 2013
Venues for Readings: The Noisy, The Cavernous, The Strange
Most months of the year, I’m lucky enough to attend at least one prose or poetry reading each week. At Kenyon College, where I am currently employed, most of our […]
March 31, 2013
Graywolf Press’s New Feature, “Ask A Midlist Author”
These days, there is an awful lot of attention given to writers that give advice. Writers at every stage of their careers seem to be more than willing to put […]
March 23, 2013
Writers’ Inscriptions: The Wise, The Vague, The Ironic
After the AWP conference this year, a guard at the Boston airport security checkpoint took one look at my rolling suitcase, and then asked me to step aside. “Ma’am,” she […]
March 4, 2013
Knox Writers’ House: A Conversation with Emily Oliver
If you haven’t visited the Knox Writers’ House—a digital archive of poets and writers reading their poems and prose, as well as the writings of others, recording in the towns […]
February 15, 2013
“The Centre Cannot Hold”: The (Rise of?) Apocalyptic Writings
As I child, I was fascinated with the biblical concept of The Rapture. As an adult, I don’t know who or what to blame—the hurricanes? The wars? All the disaster […]
February 7, 2013
Up Close, and at Some Distance: Remembering Elizabeth Bishop
It’s hard to imagine learning to write without having read Elizabeth Bishop’s poems. At nineteen years old, I was a bandana-wearing hippie and a burgeoning feminist when my professor at […]