For twenty years I’ve been applying. The first time I applied for a grant to write an epic poem about the life of John Lawson and his Indian guide, Eno Will. Sort of an Odyssey for the New World. Well, I’d published just a few poems and never actually read the Odyssey, so the Council […]
Fiction Writing
The Writing Insurrection
Every Tuesday morning I walk into the General Store Café and set up my books and timer on a round table in the back room. Joyce and Vance have kindly given permission for me to run a workshop for writers back there, during a time when the room is closed and mostly quiet. We are […]
Those Little Bookstore Tags
Those Little Bookstore Tags I have always loved those little notecards that slip onto the side of a book on display at a bookstore. A staff person has read the book and hand-written a mini-review–but only if they really love the book. You can peer at the neat square of text and get a sense […]
Hard to let go
It’s hard to let go of a book! Especially this one: Accidental Birds of the Carolinas. I have sweated over the words, the characters’ lives, their very souls, for almost 20 years. I gave the okay to my publisher yesterday afternoon to send to the printer. And though there’s yet another “proof” to come, there’s […]