Monthly Archives: April 2007

First of all: I’m so very excited about the great and varied response to the Short Story Short Challenge and my post on 10 favorite short stories! Will definitely be exploring this topic periodically. I hope everyone is inspired to … Continue reading →

Great response on the Short Story Short Challenge! As promised, I compiled a list of all the recommended short stories. Lots of new names and titles to explore. Thanks to the participants: NOVAREN, CLIFF BURNS, SNACKY WOMBAT, TAI, SUSAN (at … Continue reading →

I just had a scathingly brilliant idea. The Short Story Short Challenge! Here’s how it works: See my post below on Ten Favorite Short Stories. 1. Pick one story from the list you haven’t read, that you vow to read. … Continue reading →

I’ve been wanting to make this list for a while. It is tough to put together. How do you not include Chekhov, Munro or Fitzgerald? Which story do you include from the works of Hemingway or O’Connor? I have so … Continue reading →

The recent shooting at Virginia Tech has sparked some debate about creative writing professors and the position they are in to judge a student’s mental state. Writers tackle disturbing subject matter all the time. NPR asks how to you tell … Continue reading →

Okay, this doesn’t have to do with anything literary, but I just had to get this off my chest: Americans and the American media are rightly in mourning over 33 deaths in Virginia, yet 127+ deaths and woundings in Iraq … Continue reading →

1. You must have something to say. 2. You must be desperate to say it.

Of course, finishing this book now, as opposed to my undergrad days when I should have read this, is rather embarrassing, but all I can say is: Wow! This novel ranks as one of my all-time favorites! About one-third of … Continue reading →

I had an insight about why I am buying and hoarding books like a squirrel with its acorns before a lean winter: I think I am searching for inspiration on my own novel. On a very subliminal level, I know … Continue reading →

This is very sad news: Novelist Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84 Certainly, he was one of the great lights of contemporary American literature. Some quotes from Vonnegut: I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without … Continue reading →