Author Archives: Laurel Leigh

About Laurel Leigh

Laurel Leigh, M.F.A., is a writer, teacher, and editor and freelances internationally. She is a co-founder of Dogpatch Writers Collective and author of the blog Dear Writers. She also loves looking at everyone else's gravatars. www.LaurelLeighWriter.com www.DogpatchWritersCollective.com http://DearWriters.com

by Laurel Leigh | April 4, 2013 · 12:48 pm

Hot Gravatars

Hello from the Dogpatch!

I am in love with Gravatars. I love seeing how everyone has designed their gravatar—one a smiling face of a hardworking blogger, one a favorite pic that holds meaning, another a classy and colorful branding for a themed blog.

Not that I’m the first to notice, but there’s something really cool about the way they make unique art when lined up in a sidebar. I love seeing the different colors and images randomly lined up and noticing when a blogger with whom I’m familiar has changed up his or her gravatar. Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under Howling at the moon

Tagged as Gravatars

by Laurel Leigh | March 14, 2013 · 11:22 am

Collection of Cool

Hello from the Dogpatch!

Noticing a comment online about rereading and rewatching favorite stories, put me in mind of my all-time favorite author appearances caught on video. I’ve watched these clips numerous times and am excited, amused, moved, and inspired at each viewing. I hope you enjoy!

Dagoberto Gilb

“Stupid America”: PEN/Hemingway Award winner Dagoberto Gilb speaking and reading at Librotraficante Caravan Tucson AZ:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lFKk1AuJF4

Awesome dramatic readings: A group of actors performing brief text from various works of fiction, including the opening of Dr. Olaf van Schuler’s Brain by Kirsten Menger-Anderson, from Sally Shore’s The New Short Fiction Series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTrQ7-Egqcc

A true classic: Steve Almond on “Africa” by Toto at Tin House Magazine’s 10th Anniversary celebration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3fxkhWZbx0

Steve Almond

You can read Steve’s “Why I Write Smut: A Manifesto” from his latest set of six tiny and gorgeous books called Writs of Passion.

Junot Díaz

Wisdom for us all: Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Díaz díscussing his process at the 2009 National Book Festival:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Gu91htmDpM

Happy writing,

XO Laurel Leigh

6 Comments

Filed under Howling at the moon

Tagged as Dagoberto Gilb, Dr. Olaf van Schuler's Brain, Junot Diaz, Kirsten Menger-Anderson, Steve Almond, Writs of Passion

by Laurel Leigh | March 13, 2013 · 9:51 am

Write with Respect

Good morning from the Dogpatch, and fair warning: Only read this fabulous and hilarious post from Limebird Writers if you A) Love Kid Writers and B) Are Not Overly Offended by Poo.

Limebird Writers

I teach creative writing to children as part of an after-school enrichment program. One child, let’s call him Burt, is a bit obsessed with bodily functions. Burt wrote a story entitled, “The Battle of Pooey Land.”

Okay.

As a teacher, I try to pull out the story that’s buried deep beneath all the references to ‘poo’. I know kids must explore this part of life, and some get into it to the point they must write about it. As long as there’s a plot going on, a story that comes full circle, then I can ignore the gory detail.

However, I have my limits.

Burt used a fellow writing student (who’s also his so-called friend) as a character in his story. He did not change his friend’s name in the story, but I’ll refer to the friend as Ernie.

Burt wrote a scene where Ernie was captured by a band…

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Tagged as Limebird Writers

by Laurel Leigh | February 17, 2013 · 2:58 pm

What a Feelin’!

Happy 30th!

It’s been three decades since director Adrian Lyne brought us the film Flashdance. In case you missed it (or were just a playful glint in some hot postman’s eye when it premiered), you can relive the same story structure in Coyote Ugly from 2000, directed by David McNally and featuring a gutsy blonde wannabe singer instead of a gutsy dark-haired wannabe dancer.

In celebration of Flashdance, my favorite-ist film ever, until Jan de Bont gave the world Speed in 1994—here you may be excused if you are now bored out of your skull, but the film Speed beautifully illustrates three-act structure, and you can learn a lot by watching it 50 or 60 times. Plus, whichever way you swing, Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock are easy on the eyes—anyway, I put on my well-used Flashdance CD and started dancing around my bedroom in the shirt I’ve been wearing for 48 hours and my long underwear, doing my best Jennifer Beals imitation—or for any of you purists out there, my best Marine Jahan imitation. Continue reading →

16 Comments

Filed under Rants

Tagged as Coyote Ugly, Dirty Dancing, Eighties, Flashdance, Leg Warmers, Speed, Staying Alive

by Laurel Leigh | January 2, 2013 · 7:45 pm

Too Much In the Sun

Dear Writers:

The behavior of couples in coffee shops is endlessly fascinating to me. There’s the match/e-harmony/zoosk/cupid.com-type coffee dates, all pressed and dressed and cute and eager, one of them hoping for 25 years of loving matrimony, the other angling for 25 minutes in the sack; the omg-we’re-soooo-in-love-and-have-pet-names-for-each-other-that-seriously-annoy-everyone-else-as-if-we-all-haven’t-had-our-own-schmoopie-at-one-time-or-another cuddly pair; the “study” dates, where he’s clearly enamored with her and she thinks of him as her practically-a-girlfriend-who-happens-to-be-really-good-at-chemistry or vice versa; the been-together-too-long-and-could-barely-stand-each-other to-begin-with ones, and my personal faves, the too-quirky-for-a-category couple. Of course, I eavesdrop on them all, because you can pick up really good dialogue to use in stories, plus I’m nosy as hell.

The last pair I observed had difficulty agreeing on where to sit. She unloaded her coat, ample purse, phone, bagle, napkins, and latte at a table by the window, but her mate protested:

Him: Not that table.

Her: But I already put my stuff down.

Him: But do you remember, how we were sitting there and the sun got in my eyes?

Her: Yes, but the sun isn’t shining.

Him: But do you remember how it was?

Her: Uh-huh.

[Repeat the “Do you remember” “Uh-huh” bit a few times with increasing plaintiveness on his part and increasing annoyance on hers.]

Her: Okay, but like I said, the sun isn’t shining.

Him: But it will be eventually.

Gotta love a guy who can efficiently anticipate peril, get being upset done with in advance, and get his gal to sigh loudly, scoop up her coat, purse, phone, bagel, napkins, and latte and relocate to another table four feet away to avoid a problem that hasn’t actually happened and by the look of the sky ain’t gonna. Continue reading →

4 Comments

Filed under Craft, Notes from the coffee shop

Tagged as character obstacles, coffee, coffee dates, creative writing

by Laurel Leigh | December 20, 2012 · 2:11 pm

A Writer Becomes an Orphan by Jilanne Hoffmann

Dear Writers,

Our pack member Jilanne Hoffmann posted this moving piece on her personal blog. Indeed, it is the writer’s gift and burden to be able to write about something heartbreaking in a beautiful and passionate fashion. Thank you, Jill.

http://jilannehoffmann.com/2012/12/18/a-writer-becomes-an-orphan/#more-783

1 Comment

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Tagged as Death and dying, Death of parent, Jilanne Hoffman

by Laurel Leigh | November 4, 2012 · 6:25 pm

Potty Head

Hello from Bellingham WA on this windy evening. Which brings me to my topic—not the wind but the worry.

If worrying were an Olympic sport, I’d be caption of the U.S. team. If I listed everything I worry about, this blog would get far longer than Rapunzel’s hair, it would take up too much space, and WordPress might crash. That’s how much I worry. Enough to potentially crash WordPress and make me worry about the poor guy named Ted or something, who has to get up in the middle of the night and fix it. Sorry, Ted.

My itty bitty house is surrounded by 100-foot trees, and when the wind blows through the willows (okay, pine trees), I worry one or more trees will fall on my house. Or on my car. Or on me.

I have CSI-like evidence of the potential for this calamity. Continue reading →

8 Comments

Filed under Howling at the moon, Rants

Tagged as fiction, memoir, trees, wind, worry

by Laurel Leigh | August 28, 2012 · 11:37 am

Beauty and the Brain

Dear Writers,

You may be familiar with the Marilyn Monroe–Albert Einstein illusion that operates on the peculiarities of our vision system. Up close, where we perceive detail, the image looks like the great thinker Albert Einstein, but back away a few feet and our eyes will naturally adjust to a less-detailed rendering, allowing the features to resemble the stunning actress Marilyn Monroe. I think both perspectives as well as the distance at which our eyes struggle to decide who we’re seeing is interesting to a writer working to craft character.

Of course, how to describe characters when introducing them to the reader poses one challenge for writers. As emerging writers, at some point we all likely included some awkwardness in that initial description, perhaps including the unfortunate moment when the protagonist surveys herself/himself/itself in a hand mirror/shop window/pond and thoughtfully regards her/his/its own long blonde curls/spiky brown hair/man-killing tentacles. An author like the Franklin W. Dixon ghost troupe just puts it out there, letting us know by page 2 of The Secret Agent on Flight 101 that Joe Hardy is “blond and seventeen,” “enjoys joking,” and is “more impulsive” than his “dark-haird, eighteen-year-old brother.” Oh yeah, both ace teen detectives are “trim all-around athletes,” too. Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under Craft, Howling at the moon

Tagged as Albert Einstein, character, Hardy Boys, Julia Roberts, Marilyn Monroe, optical illusion, writing craft

by Laurel Leigh | June 29, 2012 · 10:48 am

Group Writing Critique: “No Vacancy” by Laurel Leigh

Welcome to the dogfight! Here’s a snippet from a short story by Laurel Leigh, followed by critical comments. If you want some context for this excerpt, you can read another story of hers, “Shoeless,” published in The Sun, in which the character Ralph appears. Dogpatch Writers Collective occasionally posts these excerpts of our group critiques of work in progress, and your comments are welcomed!

From “No Vacancy”

Ralph took a key off his belt ring, meaning to hand it to the guy. He’d been getting more used to them, but the floaters in his eye suddenly turned into lightning streaks and zoomed across the edge of his vision. He dropped the key, fumbled to pick it up. Then he stood blinking, feeling dizzy after the guy took the key and walked away. His eye hurt like hell. He rubbed the spot just below his eyebrow. He lit a Doral and took several long puffs. Back in his office, he swallowed aspirin and squirted eye drops in both eyes. Then he locked the office door, went into his back room and stretched out on the pullout bed. The aspirin started to kick in, but he still felt shaky and sick to his stomach. And tired—of everything. Of the pain in his eyes. Of worrying about it. Of guys like the one just now. Who made him feel even smaller than he felt most of the time. And those types of guy always got women by half trying, whereas Ralph was lucky to cop a feel once in a blue friggin’ moon. And a guy wanted more than that, you know? Someone to spend a night with, or even talk to. And, he was tired of waiting. One day, his uncle would have to retire and the motel operation would belong to Ralph, or so he hoped. But that day was a long ways off.

Comments from the Dogpatch:

Laurel, Love, love, love this story! It stands on its own, and fits almost seamlessly with “Shoeless,” the story published in The Sun. In this story, we’re looking at a man who longs to have something more in his life, to feel like part of a community instead of an outsider and to be with a woman he cares about, but he can’t quite figure out how to make these things happen. He can’t even make a doctor’s appointment or manage a small hotel. He’s so lost in his vague dreams, in the tiny aspects of his life that are beyond his management capabilities, that he’s only capable of taking action when desperate. And even then, his action is really inaction. What he ends up asking for (and paying for) lies far below what he truly desires. A heartbreaking story. You noted that you were struggling with the ending, and I’d have to say that I think the first ending is far superior to the alternate. But I would suggest that you cut the first ending slightly at the parts where you provide a little too much internal dialogue, Continue reading →

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Filed under Craft, Dogfight

by Laurel Leigh | June 13, 2012 · 9:24 am

Dammed if he does . . .

Dear Writers:

“Reading Alex Kuo is best done twice.” — Robert Wallace

With characters on opposite sides of the Pacific, Alex Kuo’s The Man Who Dammed the Yangtze may have some of its readers on opposite sides of its equations.

Published last year by Haven Books, if one chases the various reviews of this mathematical novel with doppelganger protagonists—some love it, some damn it!—it was laughingly mentioned to me by the man behind the math that a comment thread starts to emerge:

What does the math have to do with it?, or, I didn’t get the math. Continue reading →