On the whole, the past year was a pretty good one for literary women: Huerta Mueller won the Nobel, Hilary Mantel the Booker, Annette Gordon-Reed the National …
1stBooks
Rules for Writers (from Some Amazing Ones)
I just came across the most wonderful "Rules for Writing" series at the guardian.co.uk site, thanks to a mention of it in yesterday's NYTBR's "Inside the List". …
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Nabokov on Reading Poetry
In part because a character in my new novel is a poet - which I am not - I've been reading a lot of poetry lately. It's amazingly inspiring. And I just came …
Chekhov on Failure and Persistence
"...you must at once and for all give up being worried about successes and failures. Don't let that concern you. It's your duty to go on working steadily day by …
On Slush Piles and Finding Agents
This photo of the decidedly undaunting St. Martin's slush pile (the bottom shelf), which Frances Dinklespiel posted about on her wonderful blog, Ghost Word, got …
My Two Minutes on Radio: Writing for Sound
There’s nothing like reading on radio to make you focus on how your writing sounds. I spent some time at the KQED studios Tuesday afternoon, recording an essay …
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The 46th Time is the Charm
Yet another story of persistence paying: Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, was rejected by forty-five agents before her bestseller found an agent home. …
Summerset Maugham Rules for Writing
I saw this quote the other day, and couldn't resist sharing it: "There are only three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." - …
Jamie Ford: Call in Sick More Often
I'm absolutely delighted to host fellow Ballantine author Jamie Ford this week. I had the great fortune to get an advanced copy of his first novel, The Hotel on …
From On Becoming a Novelist, by John Gardner
Some words of wisdom from John Gardner, whose The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers is the writing book I most often turn to. This one, though, …
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