by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 9, 2009 | craft of writing |
In Georgia Heard’s book, The Revision Toolbox, she writes about “the sinking feeling that a writer gets after she reads her piece of writing and realizes that it’s not quite right.” But to me, the more important sinking feeling is the one I... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 6, 2009 | poetry, the day |
Sunny and 75 today–it is coming. Spring fever, spring break, spring board… Spring into action… Somewhere a black bear has just risen from sleep and is staring down the mountain from “Spring” by Mary Oliver in House of... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 3, 2009 | marriage, reviews |
As I was reading Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, I felt as if I were looking through a peep-hole into another couple’s marriage. An amazing feat since it’s written in the third person. Listen to the inside of Frank’s head: “Intelligent,... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 1, 2009 | catching moments, Columbus GA, the day |
I had this lovely idea for a March first post, a sort of spring-is-on-the-way kind of thing, and this morning I stubbornly forged ahead with it. I mean, I’d planned it, been thinking about it for days. In fact, I posted it for a few minutes–complete with... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Feb 26, 2009 | reading |
It doesn’t bother me not to finish a book. I have so many I want to read, not to mention reread. And if I don’t like a book, I want it out of the house. The faster, the better. Toss–feed the buzzards. One exception: If it is a universally... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Feb 24, 2009 | craft of writing, details, novels, reading |
Here is the first sentence from Richard Russo’s novel, Empire Falls, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002: “The Empire Grill was long and low-slung, with windows that ran its entire length, and since the building next door, a Rexall drugstore, had... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Feb 22, 2009 | craft of writing, shapes, stories |
In 1985 Russell Banks wrote “Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story.” It was first published in The Missouri Review, then in The Best American Short Stories 1985, then in The Angel on the Roof. You can also listen to it on a podcast. The first sentence: ... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Feb 18, 2009 | catching moments, Columbus GA, poetry |
Don’t allow the lucid moment to dissolve Let the radiant thought last in stillness though the page is almost filled and the flame flickers –Adam Zagajewski from Without End This is one of my favorite poems, the title of which is the first line. It’s... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Feb 14, 2009 | continuous life |
I am fascinated, and continue to find other writers who are fascinated, with the Russian doll aspect of life. With trying to get our minds around the fact that we are the same person who climbed out of a crib in the dark, who sat on one side of a see-saw at Spring... 
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Feb 10, 2009 | memoir |
Don’t you hate when this happens to one of your books? I ordered May Sarton’s Plant Dreaming Deep online. I was excited as I was pulling the book out of the padded envelope…only to find it had made its entire journey with the bottom right corner...