by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 26, 2009 | accumulation |
Perhaps one of the reasons I’ve been so taken with Tender is the Night is that the things Fitzgerald writes about are also the things I’m interested in. In this two-part post (a finale in the sense that I’ll be moving on to another book after part 2...
![a pattern of constant revising]()
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 23, 2009 | craft of writing |
Apparently on a little F. Scott Fitzgerald kick… The first novel he submitted to Charles Scribner’s Sons was rejected. Erika Willett writes, “Beginning a pattern of constant revising that would characterize his writing style for the rest of his...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 20, 2009 | craft of writing, reviews |
75 years ago this month, Tender is the Night was published. In a friend’s copy of the book, Fitzgerald inscribed the following: “If you liked The Great Gatsby, for God’s sake read this. Gatsby was a tour de force but this is a confession of...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 18, 2009 | accumulation, journeys |
I have no trouble packing in a carry-on for a weekend trip, even a 3-day weekend. But until a few weeks ago, I’d never packed in a carry-on for a week-long trip. My husband suggested I try it. Well, I knew it could be done. I’d seen other people do it. I...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 13, 2009 | Columbus GA, journeys, Pam Houston, place |
It’s writing group week at Point Reyes, California–nine of us here (several in absentia) with Pam Houston. We arrived Thursday night at the Old Point Reyes Schoolhouse Compound for a dinner of fish stew. We come from all over the country–from...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 9, 2009 | catching moments, journeys, place, the day |
Last night around 10:15, I was driving into San Francisco and fireworks were going off across the bay. I got a little lost, but my gps saved me. Around eleven pm, I was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. Amazing. Today, a gray day in Sausalito, I found a small,...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 6, 2009 | journeys, place, reading |
It’s a blustery day in Seaside, Florida, a town many of you may know from the movie The Truman Show. I was taking a quick break from Tender is the Night for a fun beach read, The Sunday Wife by Cassandra King, which takes place in Seaside and the surrounding...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 2, 2009 | Columbus GA, first novels, place |
“The first days of April were windy and warm. White clouds trailed across the blue sky. In the wind there was the smell of the river and also the fresher smell of fields beyond the town.” from The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers Carson...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 30, 2009 | Pam Houston, time |
A second works fine for me as a second. A minute works as a minute. After all, they’re so short, what should we expect. And a day works as a day. Long enough. At the end of one, I’m ready for it to be winding down. But an hour, that’s where it...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 27, 2009 | craft of writing, novels, reviews |
Before and After by Rosellen Brown was published in 1992. I read it in August of 2006 and gave it to everyone I knew for Christmas. It’s about a marriage and a family. It’s narrated in alternating chapters primarily by the husband and wife, Ben and...
