Author Archives: Susan

LITERATURE: Afternoon, A Story – Finale

Posted on September 12, 2006 by Susan

Believe I may have finished Afternoon, A Story, the hypertext by Michael Joyce.  I say "may have" because in truth I do not know.  Every now and then a new line comes up, and I follow it until it circles … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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REALITY?: Quiet

Posted on September 12, 2006 by Susan

Three times today I’ve backed my way out of comment blocks.  Confidence in what I had to say falling away into a dimness, like the day into the dusk. And too, in what’s been said.  I pack the words in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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STORIES: Structure

Posted on September 12, 2006 by Susan

Life begins with the narrative structure of a story.  Sometimes shattered into fragments becoming poetry. Poetry is the fragments put together.  Missing pieces, often distorted from the broken edges that never fit again in one mirrored plane.  An image interesting … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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LITERATURE: Reading

Posted on September 11, 2006 by Susan

Not much I can add to Dan Green’s post on The Reading Experience:  In his insistence that "the true enemies of the novel [are] plot, character, setting and theme," John Hawkes was proposing that fiction also might exhibit such a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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WRITING: Hoo-Hoo! Another Writing Group!

Posted on September 10, 2006 by Susan

In getting online to get directions to the Canton Library, what do I come across but a notice on a fiction writer group forming at this same library.  It’s running for four consecutive weeks, one night a week, and I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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LITERATURE: Book Sale!

Posted on September 10, 2006 by Susan

After planning for a month to go, I almost forgot the Canton Library Book Sale, and luckily noticed the sign on my way from the grocery store.  Raced home, got my book list, and with 45 minutes till closing time, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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WRITING: Advice

Posted on September 9, 2006 by Susan

Thanks to Michele Richmond over at Sans Serif for pointing out some of the best writing tips ever.  From Frederick Barthelme, The 39 Steps, A Primer on Writing, at the Center for Writers (Mississippi Review) we get such gems as … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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REALITY?: The Voice of a Storm

Posted on September 9, 2006 by Susan

Watching its approach, feeling inside me the black clouds tumbling over one another as they build into a solid black mass of turmoil.  Rumbling low and then closer, louder, with exclamations of lightning streaks to punctuate its dark anger.  I … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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LITERATURE & WRITING: Publishing

Posted on September 6, 2006 by Susan

With so many weblogs and websites devoted to writers and legions of hopeful writers clicking out stories on their keyboards the market is being flooded with bad writing as much as good.  It’s a sword that cuts both ways.  While … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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WRITING: Again, with the Editing

Posted on September 5, 2006 by Susan

I’m such a twit.  Just to get something submitted for our writing group in, I posted a new story that I’d worked on for a week.  However, as I’ve said before, that’s when the necessary improvements come out like stars … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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NEW MEDIA & WRITING: Images

Posted on September 5, 2006 by Susan

First, watch this:  Heaven, Earth, Tequila by Douglas Menuez  (thanks to Anne at Ample Sanity for the link).  It is unbelievably beautiful and moving. So the question posed to me was, "Can you tell a story with photos alone?" Of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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WRITING: Learning the Craft

Posted on September 5, 2006 by Susan

Great opportunity to learn from an expert:  Write A Novel.  There are 18 downloadable sections that cover the basics through the nuances and end happily at "Reading the Contract." Published author and teacher Crawford Killian is offering this online guide … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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REALITY?: Clouds

Posted on September 4, 2006 by Susan

Dark and every shade of grey in pillows and wrinkled sheets, tumbling eastward.  They feel just like my insides and I try to find their heart. Fourteen skeins of yarn from Alice, my husband’s mother, gone now twenty years.  Cleaning … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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WRITING: Plumping & Slimming

Posted on September 3, 2006 by Susan

Facing the past in the file of supposedly "finished" stories and finding them screaming for help.  Am I up to the task?  Do I see what they need?  I don’t know. Looking for arc, for conflict where I’m sorely in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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REALITY?: Character Visuals

Posted on September 3, 2006 by Susan

The owl on the left is something I made in clay class (I never really got going on the wheel, ending up with half-inch thick, short bowls out of both the frustrataing experience of trying to build them higher and … Continue reading →

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