Under The Skin, We’re All The Same

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Ever had a bad writing day? A day when you couldn’t compose a sentence to save your life? Sure, it’s rare that you’re facing a firing squad and your ability to put subjects and predicates together in clever ways is your ticket to freedom. But it could happen. Stranger things have. Or so we’re lead to believe. When you’re a novelist, especially an unpublished one, there is a small luxury available to you: time. Of course, of course, you have a million and one responsibilities. But there’s a chance your brain cell strike isn’t impacting your ability to put food […]

Tools and Craft

Revealing Our Lack of Literacy

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There was a point, we were approximately 9, when our music teacher took our mother-the-school-librarian aside and said, “Maybe the flute isn’t the right instrument for her.” This was followed a year later, “Maybe the violin isn’t the right instrument for her.” And a year later, when our piano teacher, not privy to our elementary school music teacher’s thoughts, chose to forego our mother’s payments, saying, “Maybe the piano isn’t the right instrument for her.” In the interest of time, we will not recount our long and unfortunate experiences with chorus. Our fantasies of being a famous rock star were

Square Pegs

By Everything, He Means Everything

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David Thayer over at Collected Miscellany leads into a post about reviewing with a statement that made us laugh (in a yeah-we’re-looking-into-a-mirror sort of way): People like me are intensely interested in every hiccup and crosswind the publishing world produces. We read everything. He then (and, Gena, you might want to read his entire post twice) explains that a review is an opinion. Are you okay? Put your head between your knees. Deep, slow breaths. Take your time, we can wait. It’s not like we have a meeting tomorrow or anything. Oh right, we do. When one upsets the meeting

Square Pegs

A Legacy of Letters

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It is with great sadness that we report that author Cheryl Anne Porter passed away today, after battling cancer. We want to express our sorrow to her family while remembering that her legacy will live on thanks to the many lives she touched.

Square Pegs

Confessing A Crime

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We can specifically remember the day we “got” short stories. It was high school, possibly our sophomore year. Now, this shouldn’t be a surprise — what else were we supposed to learn that year (sophomore year being the time of biology and a rather frustrating experience with something called geometry). Alas, we didn’t learn our appreciation in school — we found happiness the old-fashioned way: when we stole a book of W. Somerset Maugham’s short stories from our mother’s personal library. As she, unfathomably, never rereads anything, the loss has gone unremarked until this confession. A year ago, we attempted

Books/Mags/Blogs

The Times They Are…Yeah, Well, We Can’t Find Our Other Shoe

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We are rushing through updates because the evil meeting gods have demanded tribute, and, frankly, we don’t have a thing to wear (but if we don’t post hourly, Jill worries, and we can’t have that, what with the fact she’s supposed to be writing and all). So rather than a carefully composed tribute (which normally we’d do), let’s just say there will be a new direction at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop to kick around. Frank Conroy to Leave Iowa Writing Program

Tools and Craft

Uh, Old Headline? New Headline

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We usually don’t scratch our heads over articles from the Online Journalism Review, but, well, there’s a first time for everything. The usually tech-savvy Marc Glaser takes a look at “astroturfing” — where letters to the editor are professionally produced and mass mailed to publications. Okay, we admit it; we’re being unfair. Glaser has written on this topic before — he’s just looking at it from another angle. We can get behind that. We like that Glaser points out that more editors should be using technology (that computer on their desks) to do research, rather than the traditional phone call.

Books/Mags/Blogs

Writing Under The Influence: It Requires an Expert

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The husband convinced his high school English teacher to let him read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for credit. Yes, the rest of the class was trying to comprehend King Lear; the husband was learning the terrors inherent in casino carpets. We believe this is where he developed his journalistic skills. Or maybe his distrust of authority — it’s never been clear. Thus we feel we can speak for the husband when we say that mixing journalism and ouzo is a bad idea. Once you are no longer objective (read: you’ve become the story), you must stop and admit

Square Pegs

This Just In: Sex Sells

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We once heard an editor say that the publishing industry moves deliberately toward trends. Maybe it’s because it takes a while to write a book, we don’t know, but suddenly you can’t turn around without running into books on sex. We’re sorry — we weren’t clear. There have always been books about sexual activity; now they’re mainstream. It’s like publishing has finally figured out that all those people who rent dirty movies can read. Clearly they have disposable income they’re willing to spend. “I don’t publish pornography,” said Judith Regan, president and publisher of ReganBooks, an imprint of HarperCollins. “I

Books/Mags/Blogs

Why Not Brenda Starr?

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To understand Hollywood, you must spend some time here. Not on the Walk of Fame, but in the offices of the motion picture studios. You can try the record industry, sure, but the perks are better in the movies. Pay is better, too. Hollywood is the epitome of two-faced society. You’ll never know how your best friend really feels about you, which is fine because you’ll never be honest with your therapist. Spies, you know. By the way, we’re not talking about the talent — we’re talking studio executives. There is something terrifying about watching a man graduate from poorly

Square Pegs
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