by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Aug 8, 2010 | details, essays |
“…because the detail is divine, if you caress it into life, you find the world you have lost or ignored, the world ruined or devalued. The world you alone can bring into being, bit by broken bit. And so you create your own integrity, which is to say your...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Aug 1, 2010 | How We Spend Our Days |
Annie Dillard wrote, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” On the first of each month, Catching Days hosts a guest writer in the series, “How We Spend Our Days.” Today, please welcome writer Diane Lefer: Mountains or...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 31, 2010 | obsession, reading |
“There was one last book to write and the summer to be lived through. She worked on the book in a desultory manner, writing odd disjointed pieces at strange times of the day, dating them like journal entries, although they had nothing to do with the days on...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 28, 2010 | reading |
Ellen Gilchrist’s first book was not published until she was in her forties. In “A Reading Group Guide” at the back of Nora Jane: A Life in Stories, she is asked about this: “I didn’t begin to write seriously and professionally until I...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 26, 2010 | reading |
When I last left you, I was on the floor with all my Ellen Gilchrist books surrounding me. I put the last one back on the shelf this morning. Well, that’s not exactly true. I kept two by my computer so I could write this post. I kind of knew what I wanted to...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 23, 2010 | novels, Pam Houston, stories |
I’m trying not to search for structure. I’m trying just to write. I wrote a few pages this morning. With the other things I’ve written, I’ve seen the structure from the very beginning. As I type these words, I realize: I’ve also seen the...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 22, 2010 | craft of writing |
I wanted another cup of tea, but I kept hearing Ron Carlson’s voice: The writer is the person who stays in the room. So I kept staying and kept writing. Out of the corner of my eye, out the window to my right, I could see what I assumed was lots of squirrel...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 20, 2010 | first novels, mfa, reviews |
Robin Oliveira was a graduate assistant during my first residency at Vermont College. I met her only months before her first book would be published by Viking. Mary Sutter is a midwife, and what she wants is clearly stated in dialogue in the first chapter: “I want to...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 17, 2010 | continuous life, journeys, life, memory, place, time, truth |
I walk every step of what used to be the camp, of what is now Kingsland Bay State Park. Then I sit in a white Adirondack chair with my pen and paper, looking across the bord de l’eau to the Adirondacks. I bring my vision in to the flag pole cemented to the ground. The...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 15, 2010 | continuous life, journeys, life, memory, place, time |
I ask the young park ranger if there are any cabins left. He says no, just the shed. But it’s not just the shed. I take some photos of the outside of the cabin and head deeper into the woods toward the Point of Rocks. Something tells me to go back. The cabin is...
