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 →

4 Comments

Filed under Howling at the moon, What I'm Reading Right Now

Tagged as Alex Kuo, Centrum, China, mathematical fiction, Port Townsend's Writer's Conference, The Man Who Dammed the Yangtze, Yangtze River

by Jilanne Hoffmann | June 12, 2012 · 1:48 pm

A Banner Week for Women Writers – or Not?

Did anyone notice that the June 5th email list of The New York Review of Books online featured pieces written by no less than SEVEN women? out of TEN authors.

A blinding 70%!!!

If you’ve heard about the presumed big splash the VIDA Count made (scroll down their Website to view the damning PPT charts), regarding the dearth of women writers in major media outlets and literary venues, one can only hope that this is more than an anomaly.

But if you compare the online version with its paper counterpart, the June 21st issue, the picture doesn’t look as rosy. The paper edition features a paltry THREE women in a sea of TWENTY men.

Only 13%!!!!!

Now, dear reader, is the NYRB trying to hoodwink us? Do they think that they can appease the women who read online while catering to the old male guard who read the paper edition?

WHAT, I ask, WHAT is going on here?

Any ideas?

7 Comments

Filed under Howling at the moon, Rants

Tagged as discrimination, male bias, New York Review of Books, VIDA, women writers

by Dogpatch Writers Collective | June 9, 2012 · 1:54 pm

Group Writing Critique: “Can I Get a Witness?” by David J. Marx

Dogpatch Writers Collective will occasionally post excerpts of group critiques of work in progress. Here’s a snippet from the middle of a short story by David along with comments. Feel free to join the fray!

From “Can I Get a Witness?”

(photo from flickr.com)

. . . I carried a different route every day and got lost several times in the first month. I’d just ask a shopkeeper or a bum on the street for directions. Most days nobody really cared when or even if I brought them mail. That is, except for first and fifteenth of each month, when welfare checks were scheduled to be delivered. On those days, the check recipients, who otherwise rarely rose from bed before noon, were up with the roosters, awaiting checks. Continue reading →

5 Comments

Filed under Dogfight

Tagged as 1970s, David Marx, fear, going postal, group critiques, Hayes Valley, San Francisco, short story, writers workshop

by Jilanne Hoffmann | June 5, 2012 · 3:20 pm

Fighting the Good Fight

California Rural Legal Assistance has released its 2011 annual report, featuring three of my articles. CRLA is a legal aid organization that fights for the rights of those in California who struggle to make their voices heard, often collaborating with many local, state, and national organizations, including the Southern Poverty Law Center.�

via Fighting the Good Fight.

2 Comments

Filed under Publication

Tagged as annual report, California, CRLA, farm workers, legal aid, Southern Poverty Law Center, SPLC, workers rights

by Jilanne Hoffmann | June 2, 2012 · 1:01 am

Reading to Write

Where have you been all my life? I don’t know how I missed you as I was wandering my way through my MFA. I don’t know why no one talked about you, not a teacher, a fellow student, or my next door neighbor. I once was lost, was blind, but now I’m found. Hallelujah! Continue reading →

Comma Comma Comma Comma Comma Chameleon

Everyone should take a look at the NYTimes May 21, 2012, Opinionator column on commas. It never hurts to refresh your knowledge of grammar rules–and then break them.

The Most Comma Mistakes by Ben Yagoda

Happy Splicing!

Maker Faire Revelation

Now, you wouldn’t think that attending a Maker Faire presentation on the world’s longest paper airplane flight would have anything to do with writing. But, surprisingly, it does. Continue reading →

Coffee Shop Writer

Dear Writers,

Why do we write in coffee shops?

We come, us collective writers, expending time, probably gas, cash for high-priced drinks. We set up our tools of trade at little tables with uncomfortable chairs. We cringe when other patrons talk too loudly, laugh too loudly, or, god forbid!, talk to us. We peck away at our tablets under the too-dim/too-bright lights in the too-hot/too-cold room. I don’t really think I write better to “Pink Moon.” Continue reading →

8 Comments

Filed under Howling at the moon, Notes from the coffee shop

Tagged as chai, coffee shop, writing

by Wes Pierce | May 4, 2012 · 2:39 pm

Beware of any Book With the Word ‘Club’ in the Title

Write what you know. We have all heard this useless advice. To some, ‘useless’ might seem like too strong a word. And yet I say it again. Useless.

Telling people to write what they know is useless because when one gets right down to it, the real trick isn’t writing what you know. Continue reading →