In a letter dated January 1, 1916 to writer and critic Louis Untermeyer, Robert Frost declares, “a poem is never a put-up job—it begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.” I…
Category: Book Talk
Getting Closer
Through the glorious process of revision, I have rewritten the beginning and end of my book. I’ve renamed it, added characters, and beefed-up a few who needed more meat on their bones. This is no longer a linear chronology that…
In Search of Voice
Describing an author’s voice is a lot like describing a small town’s charm, or the dominant flavor in a great soup. As writers we need to understand what voice is and be careful to build and preserve a clear and…
He Asked Me to Call Him Bob
My first conversation with Robert Lescher was otherworldly to the point where my editor would nix it as implausible, had I written it that way in fiction. I was aggressively seeking an agent for my first book, which is now titled Dead…
In Search of My Groove
When I finished writing, rewriting, and re-rewriting Dead End Files about two years ago and happily placed it in the hands of a renowned literary agent, I felt my work on that book was complete and it was time to…
Using Criticism as a Tool
What does criticism inspire you to do? Criticism, whether a scholarly critique penned by a renowned person of letters, or a bellow from the dining room that the sauce needs more oregano, is someone’s response to something that you did.…