Square Pegs

If you are a writer, you will understand why a man spends a lifetime doing something that, at best, is grueling and non-commercial. You will understand why a person can feel just fine when the world passes him by. You will understand that measuring success in terms of dollars and cents gives one a false security. But it will take you a long time before you discover these truths. If you are a writer, and you are pursuing writing seriously, you have faith in your talent. You absolutely believe you are good. And you are. But if you’re writing for […]

It’s no secret that we get all worked up at the slightest provocation. In fact, it has been suggested that you can set your watch by it. We don’t recommend this — we checked our watch today, and with the time changes and all, we were behind in a way that put us outside the margin of error. However, sometimes we try to restrain our frenetic posting. Usually it doesn’t work, and this time we took it out on Beatrice. Something tells us we’ll have more to say, but as evidenced by this morning’s litany of excuses, it won’t be

According to our trusty spreadsheet (which we spent a few minutes making even more complex — hard to believe it was possible, but we can be amazingly resourceful), we remain on track in this NaNo game. It is Thursday, and we have successfully written over and above our goal (which was either 5.5 or 6.6 pages — or something like that) each day. Now, before anyone starts thinking we are competitive overachievers, we will mention certain obstacles in our way. First, Friday looms. We have an all-day meeting. The joy cannot be described. Actually, we could describe it — it

This just in: the new Graham Greene is stirring up controversy. Lots of controver…Wait, didn’t we just write something about this last month? We’re quite sure of it. Hold on, we need to check. Okay, the good news is we’re not crazy. The bad news is the New York Times is the kid who’s running after the bus. However, we recommend the article to you on the basis of a new and exciting scandal it illuminates. It is the kind of dish that makes us want to buy tickets for all our friends. Yes (Jill is getting all excited, because

Sarah Weinman has posted an excellent rumination on the idea of transcending genre (we’re quite jealous, but are too much of a lady to admit it). To some, the mere idea of squeezing beyond the strictures of a particular genre invites horror — it implies there’s something lesser in genre fiction or perhaps suggests that an author is slumming until something better comes along. But that assumes that all books are created equal, and that just isn’t so. In other words, genre transcending isn’t just a marketing term or a straw man; it actually happens. But I’ve come to the

In an effort to stay honest (we’re already wondering how it will last; truthfulness feels a little too much like reality), we did want to note that we managed to achieve our NaNo goal yesterday. It involved a) driving like the wind through the absurdly crowded downtown Los Angeles area (this is a city that is not prepared for rain nor time changes) and b) ignoring the husband even when he offered us wine as inducement to move away from the computer and pretend to be sociable. We will not dwell on our superhuman self-control — it really should be

Fittingly, this story caught our eye on a day when we feel the need to lock ourself in our room and listen to Patti Smith. Unfortunately, our room doesn’t have a lock and we have many things to do. Never fear — we are past masters at figuring out how to accomplish goals while serving the needs of others. As long as it doesn’t involve skipping lunch, that is. So we all remember the brouhaha when Publisher’s Weekly discontinued regular poetry reviews. Horrible situation. We believe the death the genre was predicted. Luckily, a grassroots effort has saved the day.

We don’t often link to Wall Street Journal Stories because they like people to subscribe (with cold hard cash, no less), but today’s story about a Nobel Laureate is freely avaiable. In other words, read it fast. But, wait!!! Stop. Before you read anything, we ask you to go vote. This whole government of the people, by the people thing only works if you do you job. Last week, Ms. Ebadi and her American literary agency, the Strothman Agency of Boston, sued the Treasury Department, which enforces the sanctions, in Manhattan federal district court. The suit says the regulations ignore

Today, we accepted the crown and scepter, beginning our reign over the Land of Procrastination. It is a lovely little place, filled with people hard at work at everything but what they should be doing. There is an entire suburb devoted to people who obsessively check their email every thirty seconds. A small village where nothing can be done until all paper clips are properly sorted by size (and on one street, by color). The major city is packed with individuals who spend their entire day setting up their work envoironment. It is unfortunate that this city is also overrun

Our first foray into the wild world of employment taught us the importance of lying. Every day, we’d tell two whoppers, over and over. First we’d declare, looking the customer in the eye, that the pastries we sold weren’t fattening. Then we’d say, yes, of course we’re Danish. The pastries were filled with butter and sugar, and we’re quite Hungarian-mutt. Not a drop of Danish anything, unless you count the occasional craving for aebleskiver. Working with customers is rough. People who seem perfectly normal aren’t. Two middle-aged ladies wandered in to a branch of a well-known booksellers. Helmet-coiffed and enthusiastically