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 11, 2012 | catching moments, journeys, life, the day, truth |
One thing I know for sure: I do not like large groups. Socializing sucks my brain cells and replaces them with that noise that used to come on TVs after a station had gone off the air. But talking to one or two or even three people at the edge of the bar, our feet on...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jan 31, 2012 | craft of writing, essays, Pam Houston, truth |
New essay by Pam Houston–now up at Hunger Mountain. Here’s the first paragraph: When I was four years old my father lost his job. We were living in Trenton, New Jersey at the time, where he had lived most of his life. With no college education, he had...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Apr 8, 2011 | catching moments, continuous life, essays, journeys, life, memory, mfa, my writing, place, time, truth |
As part of a series at Douglas Glover’s Numéro Cinq, my childhood…
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 24, 2011 | continuous life, craft of writing, life, novels, time, truth |
Each chapter of Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From the Goon Squad can stand alone as a story, but united, these chapters took my breath away. I got chills as I discovered yet another connection between them: Characters who age and reappear. Younger selves revealed....
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Mar 11, 2011 | catching moments, details, life, truth |
Dear Los Angeles Times, Regarding your headlines* today on the National Book Critics Circle Awards, the photo you posted is not Jennifer Egan. In addition, I would also like to point out that you mention the name of Mr. Franzen’s novel, the one that didn’t...
