Since I haven’t updated the blog in a few months, some catching up is in order. Here’s what’s been going on with me: September At the beginning of the month, I had an exciting work trip to Kansas City, Missouri. I hadn’t realized (as you probably hadn’t either) that Kansas City is actually a very coolContinue reading “A Catch-Up Post”
Category Archives: Music
Novels In Which Nothing Happens
I’ve been thinking about novel plots lately and what makes the difference between good ones, bad ones, and nonexistent ones. Of the critiques I’ve received on my last novel from various people who’ve read it, the most troubling one for me is that “almost nothing happens.” Of course, in writing it, it seemed to meContinue reading “Novels In Which Nothing Happens”
Bedtime Songs
The morning daycare for Amandine is working out great so far. She seems to like it, and I’ve been able to get some revisions done on my book. I think the manuscript is just about ready to send out to some of my friends who’ve said they’d be willing to take a look at it.Continue reading “Bedtime Songs”
When Good Authors Write Bad Sentences
A 5-hour plane ride with a two-and-a-half-year-old, if you’ve never tried it, is kind of an Olympics-level parenting event, and I’m still recovering. So forgive me if this post lacks the normal verve and panache due to mental and physical exhaustion. The orgy of cultural consumption has continued unabated since my last post. I readContinue reading “When Good Authors Write Bad Sentences”
Songs of Humanism and Experience
(With apologies to William Blake, this is a post I’m writing specifically to submit to this Humanist Symposium thingie for bloggers I just learned about—the next one will be hosted April 4th by Letters from a Broad, a blog whose author is also a novelist.) Given the phase of music enthusiasm I’ve been going throughContinue reading “Songs of Humanism and Experience”
Persuasion
I had a religious upbringing. The religion I was raised in, Mormonism, was an evangelical kind, which means we were interested in converting other people to it. In my mid-twenties I had an intellectual falling-out with my church and left. Thanks to Facebook, I’m now in touch with a lot of old friends from myContinue reading “Persuasion”
Mothers and Children
When I have an intimidating pile of books I want to read and am not sure where to start, sometimes I’ll go through and read the just first chapter of each book in turn. Then I’ll read the second chapter of each, and so on, until I get hooked on one and drop the others.Continue reading “Mothers and Children”
My Rules for Writing
This week the Guardian published a piece in which 29 writers give their rules for fiction writing. Here are mine: 1. Realize no one cares about your stupid novel. Seriously. Even if it gets published. Even if it wins the freakin Nobel Prize for Literature, most people you pass on the street are never goingContinue reading “My Rules for Writing”
A Music Post
I know I’ve been boring, what with all the shop-talk about novel-writing and whining about how hard revisions are. So for a change of pace, today’s post is on music. I’ve been wasting a lot of time lately listening to music when I should be revising my novel instead, for a couple of reasons. One,Continue reading “A Music Post”
Therese Doucet 