Quotation of the Week: Anne Rice

by Erika Dreifus on
2

I’ve subscribed to The Southeast Review‘s Writing Regimen for the month of December, and one benefit that I’m really appreciating is the receipt of a literary quotation each morning. Here’s one–sad but true–that I received over the weekend.

“Writers write about what obsesses them. You draw those cards. I lost my mother when I was 14. My daughter died at the age of 6. I lost my faith as a Catholic. When I’m writing, the darkness is always there. I go where the pain is.”
–Anne Rice

Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Readings and Lectures on iTunes U

by Erika Dreifus on
Disabled

If you’re one of those writers who yearns to attend the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference but who, for whatever reason, has never quite made it to Vermont, you may be especially glad to know that you can download readings and lectures presented at the Conference. Free! Without traveling! (Hat tip to Celeste Ng/the FWR blog for reminding me that this resource is available.)

The Wednesday Web Browser: Tech Edition

by Erika Dreifus on
3

Jane Friedman has compiled a list of “Twitter Tips for Writers.” Which will come in handy, no doubt, once I cave in and launch a Twitter account/feed of my own. (See also Robert Lee Brewer’s Twitter Cheat Sheet for Writers.)
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I may be behind the times insofar as Twitter is concerned, but after witnessing David Pogue present at a conference last week, I definitely know where to go to learn more about technology more broadly. For example, this video has taught me something about e-readers–while making me smile.
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And speaking of e-readers, did you hear the news that The Atlantic has begun publishing stories exclusively on the Kindle? (For some good commentary on this, see Midge Raymond’s post here.)

Quotation of the Week: Joshua Henkin

by Erika Dreifus on
4

“Every writer is faced with the same question: do you write about what you know or what you don’t know? Some of my writing students, particularly my undergraduates, err to one extreme or the other. They write simply what they know, which is a transcript of Friday night’s keg party, or simply what they don’t know, which is Martians. What they need to do—and here I’m quoting a former writing teacher of mine—is write what they know about what they don’t know or what they don’t know about what they know.”

Source: Joshua Henkin, “Risk,” Glimmer Train Bulletin #35