Last night I read a fascinating article in my New Yorker about Raymond Carver and his relationship with his long time friend and editor Gordon Lish.  Though I am unfamiliar with Carver's short stories, the article told me that he was instrumental to bringing back the short story to the mainstream audience, even garnering front page reviews on the ( Read more... )

I savorsavorsavor these evenings alone.  This is going to be so good for me.  I was hit by an idea for a short story this afternoon and I've already got two (sloppy) handwritten pages.  I've been operating on the assumption for a long time that I didn't have any story ideas in me ( Read more... )

The internet works like a charm!

 It is amazing where my mind takes me.  I manufacture completely believable senerios in my mind based on a look or a tone of voice.  I convince myself of something, that so-and-so is mad at me, that my minor mistake will result in termination, and I run with it.  There is no telling me otherwise.  Do any of you do that?  Do you find yourself ( Read more... )

 After a horrible day and night, I finally made it back to the apartment and sat down to install my free Norton AntiVirus.  I don't know how much of the computer it got through, but it found about a bazillion infected files.  One of them must be particularily nasty because the computer shut down by itself and Norton freaked out saying it was being ( Read more... )

As many of you know, I've just gotten the computer set up and internet turned on at my new apartment.  I pushed, and the decision was made for us to get a cable connection to the worldwideweb so I could start writing more in the evenings ( Read more... )

I can see the need to structure my newly free evenings.  Without a routine I am certain to fall pray to music videos without commercials.  Lots of cable has come along with the internet, and I've just watched two hours of Justin Timberlake ( Read more... )

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And now we are golden.  Gold and brown and sepia and a million other shades that I do not have names for.  Gone are the peaches and pinks and oranges and neon greens.  Gone are the branches full of colored leaves.  Now the leaves fall like a large rain and cover lawns and cars and sidewalks with their unabashed, dead color.  Out here, yellow is the ( Read more... )

It is amazing to feel so completely confident in the direction you're traveling.  I am fortunate.  I feel this way for the first time in my life and it is novel.