by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jun 8, 2009 | catching moments, craft of writing, journeys, shapes |
Which leads to another…. For the last post, I was looking for a quote by Henri Matisse that I never found by the way about not needing to show the whole shape of something in order for the viewer to grasp what you’re creating. In fact, for the Barnes...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jun 5, 2009 | shapes |
“Obituaries, I believe, are really less about death than the odd shapes life takes, the patterns that death allows us to see.” The Bridge of Sighs, Richard Russo But it’s not death that allows us to see the patterns. Death just gives us the last few...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jun 2, 2009 | stories |
With the intention of reading a story a night, a reader asked yesterday about story collections. I love that idea. No brand new collections to suggest, I’m afraid, but here are three great oldies: Women & Fiction, edited by Susan Cahill, published in 1975....
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jun 1, 2009 | reading |
June 1st, although not officially summer, is in my mind, which makes it time for summer reading! My recommendations: The Earth Hums in B Flat (novel) by Mari Strachan. This is out now. I just read it….See my review forthcoming in July in the summer issue of...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | May 30, 2009 | catching moments |
Sometimes I sit down at my desk to make a post, and I think I know what I want to write about. So I’m typing away on the computer and what I started with is getting farther and farther down the page as I continue to write and hit enter. Finally I realize I must...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | May 26, 2009 | essays, life |
When I did the first post on the russian-doll aspect of life, I knew I’d read it somewhere else too, but I couldn’t find it. This morning I came across the words in some underlining of mine (in a black pen, surprisingly) from january of 2001 in Anna...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | May 22, 2009 | catching moments, craft of writing, Dani Shapiro, details, Pam Houston |
In the car yesterday, I was listening to the CD that came with The Writer’s Notebook. On it are two recordings. One was a discussion on character. On the panel were Ron Carlson, Dorothy Allison, and Dennis Johnson. There was no introduction; it just started....
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | May 20, 2009 | journeys, memoir, place, reviews |
It’s often what grabs us when we are very little that becomes our passion. We can remember the moment. For me, it was a morning in kindergarten. I must have been five. One of the kid’s mothers put on a puppet show–in French. I was smitten. I...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | May 16, 2009 | reading |
One of the comments on the last post has me thinking about when, during the process of reading a book, I will go back to reread. Because I have so many books waiting to be read, I only stop to reread small patches–sentences or paragraphs. And I read with a...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | May 14, 2009 | reading |
How many times have you thought this or said this? When I say it, I actually don’t mean good; I mean that will take my breath away. That will make me want to read it again. So I say this, I’m guessing, three or four times a year. I’m not the only...
