by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 9, 2010 | first novels, my writing, reviews |
The new issue of Contrary Magazine is online with my review of Kim Wright’s first novel, Love in Mid Air. Here’s the first paragraph of the review: As a plane heads down a runway, a stranger reaches for the Narrator’s hand. “Here comes the dangerous part,”... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 8, 2010 | catching moments, the day |
Here’s where I am right now, sitting in the chair behind my green computer, on Blue Mountain Beach, in Florida, for spring break. I have a list of things I want to post about. It’s on that table somewhere, on a large green post-it note. It ends with number... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 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 ROBIN BLACK There’s an enormous window... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 30, 2010 | journeys, truth |
Because I’m always writing about how much I LOVE traveling, full disclosure compels me to tell the story of my trip home from Sirenland. I am only just now able to speak of this–now that the story has come to an end and I did in fact make it home. As a... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 28, 2010 | journeys, place, shapes |
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 25, 2010 | Dani Shapiro, place |
So sorry for the radio silence but I’m at the Sirenland Writer’s Conference. I was here for 2 1/2 days before I had a second to log in to the internet, which is the longest I’ve been offline in over a year. And that was just to check email. I mean,... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 19, 2010 | craft of writing, shapes, stories, time |
15 stories in this slim volume from Amy Hempel published in 1985. Only 3 of the 15 written in third; the rest, in first. My clear favorite is the first-person story “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried.” It’s nicely developed and goes deeper... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 14, 2010 | journeys, Pam Houston, place, provincetown |
In 2006, I went to Provincetown for the first time to take a workshop with Pam Houston at the Fine Arts Work Center. Each morning a twenty-minute walk to class took me parallel with the ocean on a cobblestone sidewalk, past art gallery after art gallery and shop... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 11, 2010 | stories |
“Naked Chinese People” is the first story in the collection California Transit by Diane Lefer, my adviser this semester at Vermont College of Fine Arts. I thought if I was going to be working with her, I should read some of her writing. California Transit... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 8, 2010 | Columbus GA, time |
It looks like spring here in Georgia. The daffodils are pushing out of the ground. The cherry blossoms are blooming. And it sounds like spring. I’m going to betray my ignorance here, but on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday a flock–as in 50 or more–very...