Posts tagged 'Tin House'

Ten Things NOT to Say to a Debut Novelist

By pam

November 30, 2012

I’m so pleased to bring you a guest post from Rayme Waters, author of the novel, The Angels’ Share. Rayme and I met at the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop in 2010, where we workshopped with the brilliant Robert Boswell. Through the wonder of social media, Rayme and a few of us from the conference [...]

OTHER TAGS: debut novelist, Rayme Waters, Robert Boswell, ten things not to say, The Angels' Share, what to say to a debut novelist, writers workshops | Comments: Add a comment

Facing Facts…Again

By pam

November 7, 2012

As I write this, I’m looking out my front window at a few maple trees that haven’t had their best autumn. Instead of glorious golden prom gowns, they’re sporting mottled fading green and gold leaves with giant ugly black spots from some fungus. Blech. And, the gray of November that I was pining for during [...]

OTHER TAGS: debut novel, facing facts, Gray Wolf Press, NANOWRIMO, seasonal blues, Sonia G. Medeiros, The Lyon Review | Comments: Add a comment

Undoing the MFA?

By pam

September 20, 2012

In conversations at Bread Loaf in Sicily, I’ve heard a recurring lament from some of the people here with MFAs. As any lament should be, it’s a mournful dirge – these writers feel the need to undo what they learned in their MFA programs, meaning the emphasis on craft and technique, for them, removed the [...]

OTHER TAGS: Bread Loaf in Sicily, MFA in writing, Sewanee, undoing the MFA | Comments: 8 Comments

Finding Your Tribe

By pam

August 17, 2012

Writers write. Writers write alone. Facts. But, one is the loneliest number. We need other writers to give us feedback, to whine to every now and then, to toast our successes. We need people who understand that sometimes a good day means celebrating a “good” rejection. I live in a city, Milwaukee, that has [...]

OTHER TAGS: Aspen Summer Words, online writing community, Sabra Wineteer, Talking Shop, writing community, writing networks. Bread Loaf in Sicily, writing support | Comments: 2 Comments

Mountains… and Writing?

By pam

May 25, 2012

Mountains have been on my mind lately. Mountains and writing. Mountains of writing. How writing my novel has been like learning to climb a mountain. You don’t start mountain climbing by tackling Everest. You start smaller and build your skills, surpass previous altitudes, backtrack when you must. You attend clinics to learn safe techniques and [...]

OTHER TAGS: Aspen Summer Words, climb and conquer, Julie Andrews, Luis Alberto Urrea, mountain climbing, Murren, New England, Switzerland, writing conferences, writing novels | Comments: 25 Comments

“With A Little Help from My Friends”

By pam

April 14, 2012

At AWP last month, I had dinner with friends I’d met at the Tin House conference in 2010. Among our group was an author whose debut novel will be out in August. She was talking about the challenge in finding reviewers who she could be sure would be honest, and she mentioned how she gets [...]

OTHER TAGS: Alan Heathcock, Alice Munro, Amber Dermont, Beatles, Carol Wobig, Grace Paley, Judy Bridges, Rebecca Rasmussen, Robert Vaughan, Steve Almond, Susan Tepper, with a little help from my friends, writing block | Comments: 2 Comments