by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 15, 2009 | craft of writing, details, reviews |
When Mari Strachan was a little girl, she used to create pretend newspapers, carefully writing the stories in pencil, drawing a picture to go with them, and then sewing the pages together. She says, “I’ve always loved the physicality of books and paper and...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 13, 2009 | craft of writing, details, memoir, memory, reviews, shapes |
I don’t write memoir. But I like the way Abigail Thomas writes, the way she tells the truth. “My truth doesn’t travel in a straight line, it zigzags, detours, doubles back. Most truths I have to learn over and over again.” I got hooked on the...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jul 1, 2009 | craft of writing, essays, reviews |
The Writer’s Notebook, with its title taken from the journals of Somerset Maugham, consists of 17 essays on the craft of writing. Some, but not all, are based on craft seminars given at the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop. I did not read them in order, but...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jun 19, 2009 | accumulation, craft of writing, memoir, reading |
Some of you may have noticed that on the Reading List page, I’ve been adding how I chose the book or books I’m currently reading. Well, the story of how I chose Abigail Thomas’ Thinking About Memoir seemed too long to add on that page. Talk about one...
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 | 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....
