One wouldn’t think that a pasta sauce made mostly of onions would be so elegant, beguiling, and comforting too, but it is. With an abundance of onions this evening, I made a version of a heartier sauce I’d seen on…
Blog Archives
Onions & the Cost of Fiction
Some years ago, I came across a recipe for onion flowers, saw therein a metaphor for the cost of writing fiction, and wrote about that. I made a simplified onion flower today and thought I’d share the original piece with…
What we share with oaks
My interaction with the Knoxville Utilities Board over a big tree produced an illuminating view of mortality. It happened like this. We have a red oak near the street which had grown until its bark was rubbing against— actually stripping…
Dangers of over-describing
At a recent literary conference, a speaker was warning of “drivers license descriptions.” That is, the character appears on the scene trailing specifics: “Tommy Lengley, 6’1″, blonde, tanned, well-built, with a faint scar on his left cheek . . .…
Novel writing & bridge building
At the Southern Literature Conference in Chattanooga yesterday, the wonderful novelist/short story writer, Alan Garganus, had a great analogy on novel (and I suppose short story) building. Suppose you want to build a bridge over a canyon. You throw a…
Carnivorous typewriter
All in the line of research, I found an image of this carnivorous-looking typewriter, circa 1915. Writing is difficult enough, uncertain enough, and imagine if you had to be right up close to this scary thing hour after hour. Doesn’t…
When Apple bonks writer
My agent Courtney says that her clients divide into pantsers (those who write by the seat of their pants) and planners (who ignore pants and plan). I’m a planner. By necessity. If I had to worry about plot at the…
Posted in Writing
Prompts for Awakening
I just finished a four-session writing workshop on the theme of awakening with my magnificent poet-friend Linda Parsons Marion. She did two sessions on poetry and I did two on narrative. This being the beginning of spring and all, awakening…
Tagged with: fiction writing, free writes, memoir, memoir writing, writing prompts
Posted in Writing
Posted in Writing
Our Irish-Bulgarian Cabbage Connection
Are you pondering St. Patrick’s Day? I modestly propose a fusion pairing of Irish corned beef and Bulgarian cabbage. The recipe for the later was part of our daughter Emilia’s patrimony when we adopted her at age 10 from Bulgaria.…
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