Category Archives: blogs
I Just Feel Like It Is Going In A Really Random Direction
It seems to me the idea of inspiration is a terrible burden, to many. A cruel one. A myth. I think people are haunted by it, as they are horoscopes that say they’ll meet a lover this week, or that … Continue reading
On Maud Newton On David Foster Wallace
Maud Newton astutely considered the legacy of David Foster Wallace in the New York Times Magazine last weekend. I thought it was an exhilarating read. She begins with a quote from “Tense Present” and then uses it as a mirror from … Continue reading
On Getting Your Name Out There, Part 2: The Story That Sells the Story
For the first part of this series on authors, author sites and author blogging, go here first. When approaching an author site, what I find least interesting is a sort of bland, safe, risk-free aesthetic, a headshot with links and … Continue reading
On Getting Your Name Out There: Author Blogging
There is a great deal of pressure for writers to blog, for themselves and for others. Typically, whoever’s asking you has the presence of mind to be a little ashamed: “We can’t really pay you for this, but you’ll get … Continue reading
Filed under author's own, blogs, books, writers, writing
Refresh, Refresh
During the semester I read approximately 250 pages a week, to as much as 600, if it’s thesis season–and that doesn’t even include my own writing or my email. But I also don’t notice it–I just do it, like breathing … Continue reading
Filed under author's own, blogs, books, comics, essay, fiction, fox demons, graphic novels, novels, writers, writing
The Rhys-Ford Affair, Over at Granta.com
My correspondence with Maud Newton on the novels Jean Rhys and Ford Madox Ford wrote after their affair is up over at Granta. For more, check out several of Maud’s posts on Rhys leading up to this, here, here and … Continue reading
What’s Wrong With the American Essay?
I’m spending some time at lunch today reading Christina Nehring’s excellent essay over at truthdig.com on what is wrong with the American Essay, and she’s making some excellent points: Are we, as readers, responsible for the decline of the American … Continue reading
“I got used to everything except the cold…” — On Jean Rhys and Ford Madox Ford
In reading for my upcoming exchange at Granta with Maud Newton over the novels Jean Rhys and Ford Madox Ford wrote about each other after their affair, I came across an anecdote about her I couldn’t use in what I … Continue reading
Filed under author's own, blogs, books, fiction, letters to you, writers, writing
“Asian American”
My friend Tayari Jones is featuring 8 Debut Novelists over at her blog, and this week’s writer is Marie Mutsuki Mockett, whose novel, Picking Bones From Ash, I blurbed. Tayari posted an essay of Marie’s struggle to publish. This quote … Continue reading
Filed under author's own, blogs, books, fiction, Korean American, Koreanish, writers, writing
The Kogi Taco Truck of LA
The search for the legendary Kogi taco truck of LA. The disembodied book comes of age? “The key thing to understand about Korean Mom punishments is that they will not make sense. Ever. It will not teach you that you … Continue reading
Filed under blogs, food, Korean America, Korean life, novels
