by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Aug 10, 2012 | craft of writing, details |
Paul Lisicky The Burning House Etruscan Press paperback 2011 . On smell: …her hair, which smelled of grapefruit and smoke. (35) Practical, pleasant smells came off her skin: vaporizer, toothpaste, Vaseline Intensive Care. (43) I loved their smells: laundry soap,...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jun 27, 2012 | craft of writing, details, novels |
Ann Patchett State of Wonder Harper hardback 2011 . On beginnings: “The news of Anders Eckman’s death came by way of Aerogram, a piece of bright blue airmail paper that served as both the stationery and, when folded over and sealed along the edges, the...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jun 24, 2012 | details, journeys, place, provincetown |
I left my house in Columbus, Georgia at 5:15 am and arrived at the Days’ Cottages at 12:15–7 hours door to door. I flew into Boston, a rented convertible waiting for me, but the forecast was for wind, rain, and cold–all six days. And it was pouring...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Feb 22, 2012 | craft of writing, details, novels |
Really? you might be thinking. More on The Forgotten Waltz? Yes, there’s more. Consider the following: …there was no doubt that we felt easier about the world, for the fact that our father was no longer in it. We loved him, of course, but we both knew that...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jan 26, 2012 | catching moments, craft of writing, details, stories |
I want to slow things down. I was planning on writing a post on several stories in Alan Heathcock’s debut collection, Volt, but I think I’ll just look at the first story. “The Staying Freight”–I love the title–was first published in...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Dec 22, 2011 | details, memory, the day |
If you can find twenty minutes, you can listen to Dylan Thomas’ story “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” read by the author–courtesy of NPR. The written story is also available online. Thomas grounds the story of this long-ago Christmas in...
