John Steinbeck sure likes dust. I've already heard it described in more ways than I thought possible, and I'm just starting. It really does a great job of painting the scenery, though.
Admitting defeat
Well... I must embarrassingly resign myself as uncultured, and impatient. Swan's Way by Marcel Proust is just too boring for me to continue. I think I am missing something, because I don't understand the draw. It's not that I can't handle writing without a narrative, since I loved The Peregrine... but, the lack of narrative …
A different brain
I was out at a karaoke bar recently and someone sang 'What It's Like' by Everlast. This somewhat cheesy, quintessentially 90's song came out when I was a teen, and I've always known all the words but somehow I've never really heard them before. Or maybe it's that, being older and having a bit of …
Words to Control + F
When in the process of splashing out words for a new story, we all find ourselves writing words we don't need, repeating words, and being hacks in general. I've composed a list of these 'filler' words that I've found most often in my own work. Search for, and delete! Very: Delete any that aren't in …
Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders
Love, death, ghosts, and history. What a sad, funny, interesting and heart-squeezing novel. From Wikipedia: Many years ago, during a visit to Washington DC, my wife's cousin pointed out to us a crypt on a hill and mentioned that, in 1862, while Abraham Lincoln was president, his beloved son, Willie, died, and was temporarily interred …
Jonas David 