by Cynthia Newberry Martin | May 15, 2012 | craft of writing, reading |
I am reading, reading, reading. Finished a book last night and, with no had-to-reads awaiting, I chose four, thick paperbacks (all given to me by friends) from my to-be-read stack. Two I discarded easily based on subject matter–generally not interested in novels...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | May 11, 2012 | life |
Fourteen writers respond in a collection of nine interlocking essays, meditations, and lists, all framed by excerpts from an interview with Michael Martone, and all aimed at pulling the curtain back, just a little, on that most important character we craft: The...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | May 8, 2012 | about the current writer |
Annie Dillard wrote, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” On the first of each month, a guest writer shares how he or she spends the day. June 1, 2012: Sybil Baker I met Sybil at AWP this year at the Vermont College of Fine Arts party. I had...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | May 1, 2012 | 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 Marge Piercy: The Jewish day goes from sundown to...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 20, 2012 | accumulation, life, my writing, reading |
I’ve been doing too much, or trying to do too much. Contrary, Hunger Mountain, Catching Days, writing group, writing, family, life, read… Wait a minute. I haven’t been reading all that much. I used to read every evening–from after supper until...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 14, 2012 | essays, reading |
About ten years ago, during the keynote lunch at the San Diego State Writers’ Conference, we were supposed to sit at the table whose center placard best described what we wrote. The choices were Memoir, Sci-Fi, Thrillers, Mysteries, Literary Fiction, Historical...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 8, 2012 | about the current writer |
Annie Dillard wrote, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” On the first of each month, a guest writer shares how he or she spends the day. May 1, 2012: Marge Piercy I’ve been reading books by Marge Piercy for over twenty years. The first...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 1, 2012 | 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 William Lychack: Yangon and the day starts the night...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 20, 2012 | craft of writing, novels, truth |
Margaret Atwood The Handmaid’s Tale Anchor paperback 1998 (1st pub 1985) On moving in and out of the present action: Frowning, she tears out three tokens and hands them to me. [13 paragraphs of backstory and interior monologue] I take the tokens from...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 15, 2012 | journeys, place |
A friend of mine from long ago and far away drove thirty miles into Chicago, so we could visit, and so she could show me Ragdale, thirty miles outside of Chicago and a passion of hers. Grounds, buildings, rooms with names, bookshelves rich with the spirits of those...
