Posts Tagged ‘writing regimens’

"Rules" of Writing

“Rules” of Writing

Inspired by Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing, the Guardian recently asked several contemporary authors for their own rules of writing. Writers such as Margaret Atwood, Annie Proulx, Jonathan Franzen, Philip Pullman, Zadie Smith, and many others answered the call ((Here’s Part One; and here’s Part Two).
You may have noticed that at [...]

The Rebel from Helena: An Interview with Maile Meloy

The Rebel from Helena: An Interview with Maile Meloy

Through prose that is concise, confident, and empathetic, Malie Meloy evokes what David Foster Wallace called the “plain old untrendy human troubles and emotions” of life, and treats them with “reverence and conviction.” Joshua Bodwell talked with Meloy about her newest collection, Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It, the craft of writing short fiction, and the art of finding the right voice for a story.

The <em>WSJ</em>'s Interview with Cormac McCarthy

The WSJ’s Interview with Cormac McCarthy

So you didn’t win the auction for Cormac McCarthy’s typewriter. (Ahem–if you did, we know a great literary site that you could support as well!)
For everyone else without a spare $254,500, we offer this interview with McCarthy in theWall Street Journal, available online for free. In the wide-ranging conversation, McCarthy discusses the [...]

"The Mommy Problem," and the larger notion of life beyond work

“The Mommy Problem,” and the larger notion of life beyond work

Over at The Millions, Sonya Chung’s essay “The Mommy Problem” throws more questions at a question I’m still trying to answer. I, too, have indulged in her habit of close-reading women writers’ biographies for suggestions of children and clues as to their familial satisfaction to productivity ratio. While the argument over how writers should spend [...]

How They Write

How They Write

The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating look at how several writers get down to business–from writing in blue exam books to dressing in character to collage-making. Some highlights:
Orhan Pamuk:
Mr. Pamuk writes by hand, in graph-paper notebooks, filling a page with prose and leaving the adjacent page blank for revisions, which he inserts with [...]

NaNoWriMo Grab Bag: Robot Assistants and More

NaNoWriMo Grab Bag: Robot Assistants and More

As Gwen announced last week, it’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), the annual challenge to write a 175-page (50,000 word) novel during the month of November. How many of you are taking part? We have at least one FWR editor and one contributor on the scene, and so far they’re keeping up with the wordcounts. [...]

NaNoWriMo: FWR FTW!

NaNoWriMo: FWR FTW!

For a few Novembers now, I’ve been dimly aware that a few thousand people around the world were doing some weird writing thing during one of the busiest months of the year. NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month. 50,000 words — a whole novel — in one month. No editing, no going back, no working on [...]

Why Slow Thinking (and Slow Writing) Can Be Good for You

Why Slow Thinking (and Slow Writing) Can Be Good for You

A while back, Anne blogged about J. Robert Lennon and the argument that writers are really working all the time. Here’s further reason to back away from the writing schedule and cut yourself some slack now and then. Carl Honore, author of In Praise of Slowness, makes a compelling case for “slow thinking” [...]

[QUOTES AND NOTES] Of Writers and Vacations

[QUOTES AND NOTES] Of Writers and Vacations

“Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller, and more of it can be taken in at a glance, and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen.” — Leonardo da Vinci

writing time

writing time

J. Robert Lennon, whose story collection Pieces for the Left Hand will be reviewed on FWR later this fall–and who was recommended highly to our readers by Lydia Davis–recently made this fantastic confession on behalf of all writers.
We don’t spend much time writing.
There. It’s out. Writers, by and large, do not do a great [...]