by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Aug 16, 2011 | accumulation, craft of writing, novels, stories, time |
In the surprisingly interesting Reader’s Guide at the back of Dan Chaon’s Await Your Reply, Chaon writes: As a writer, I feel like I’m always in conversation with the books that I’ve read. Yiyun Li, the author of The Vagrants, feels the same...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Aug 15, 2011 | craft of writing, details, novels |
From the first page of Dan Chaon’s novel: On the seat beside him, in between him and his father, Ryan’s severed hand is resting on a bed of ice in an eight-quart Styrofoam cooler. Enough said? Dan Chaon’s second novel and fourth book, Await Your...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Aug 8, 2011 | life, reading, shapes, the day, time |
I adore this portrait of May Sarton. I used it in a blog post on August 8, 2009. I also used some of the same quotes, but I had a very different reaction to them two years ago. There is nothing to be done but go ahead with life moment by moment and hour by...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Aug 1, 2011 | 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 Heather Newton: x I leave my husband and...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 28, 2011 | obsession |
from the archives: july 28, 2010 Ellen Gilchrist’s first book was not published until she was in her forties. In “A Reading Group Guide” at the back of Nora Jane: A Life in Stories, she is asked about this: “I didn’t begin to write...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 21, 2011 | essays, my writing, novels, poetry, reviews, stories |
Summer Contrary is online with new fiction, essays, and poetry, as well as reviews of these books : Poetry: Northerners by Seth Abramson Essays: Otherwise Known as the Human Condition by Geoff Dyer and A Journey with Two Maps by Eaven Boland Fiction: And Yet They Were...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 15, 2011 | journeys, mfa |
For a writer whose days are mostly spent by choice by herself in front of a screen, eleven days of amazing and stimulating workshops, lectures, and readings–connected by speaking to people, finding seats, speaking to more people, making plans for dinner, and...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 12, 2011 | journeys, mfa, place |
I have this thing for the ocean. But in a pinch, a pond, a creek, a river will do. The Winooski River flows through Montpelier, Vermont. From the balcony of the old Victorian, we could actually see the river. And when I was out running, I discovered the cool bridge...
