This is the writer’s desk, an overview of all posts.
Have you ever wondered what makes a great piece of literature? Theorist Viktor Shlovsky believed that what a good story was was this, one that sticks around, plays with us, remains. However, to achieve that “long-lasting effect” in a work of art takes a specific set of devices. Like poetic […]
(Athena disguised as Mentor, helping the prince.) “Telemachus, no more shyness, this is not the time! We sailed the seas for this, for news of your father — where does he lie buried? what fate did he meet? So go right up to Nestor, breaker of horses. We’ll make him […]
4.0 out of 5 stars A telling tale Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2019 Of family, war, racism, mystery. Essentially, a novel. Close to real life, this story follows the lives of a Jewish family in romantic Naples, as the consequences of an unfolding WWII pummel every […]
It came to my attention that I should focus on deepening my characters. As it goes, things should actually happen in a story. Funny, because I have known for a while that my personages spend a lot of time thinking. What’s wrong with thinking. That some people don’t want to […]
“I would like to be able to look Maitreyi in the eyes…” — Bengal Nights, 1933 For a powerful narrative set in postcolonial India, told by two powerful minds, one pair stands to be compared and contrasted. These are Mircea Eliade’s 1933 Bengal Nights and Maitreyi Devi’s 1974 It […]
A good chorus can be happy, tragic, annoying but catchy. Like the one that goes: And I don’t want the world to see me / ’cause I don’t think that they’d understand. But I know that you will, you will understand. So I’ll show you, I’ll show you […]
Year: 2019. Setting: Houston. This city wet, gray, and sunny, makes room as I write and write. A groove, to test readability, performs miracles. Why simple, when the poetic rests elsewhere in teacups. Meanwhile mate, pronounced mahteh, cools besides my hot computer. Can’t write about what happens, what is […]
It occurs to me that, were I to exaggerate, I have never needed to write. My writing comes from a place of want. I want to write. The struggle is, in this case, when one wants to write, that the quality of the work comes into question. Wanting, one invests […]
Lavender fields brushed the side of the island of Hvar. It made us feel calm, those handful of nights in paradise. Argentina had been knocked out of the Cup. Threatened were the vibes. But dinner would that night turn things around. I couldn’t even tell you who won the […]
Why not get into the holiday spirit with some lines? These I wrote while traveling this past summer. They feel warm to me, silly, carefree, and yearning. Skim them, or sit on a word for a long time. They are here to keep you company. Personally I like the last […]
3.0 out of 5 stars A moving wartime narrative, written from the heart Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2018 This mitten, this red mitten! I too hold it close to my chest, as Nels does throughout the novel. How can we let go? We must. Please, allow […]
Last Friday night, in bed with a cup of chamomile tea, I finished the last chapter of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet. What a rush, I thought, staring at the wooden end of an exhausted incense stick on my desk; what a rush, despite the peace around me. I closed the […]
The girl facing me was called Conchela. She had a heart-shaped face and a ponytail so tightly pulled back that it was hard to tell where her forehead ended and her hairline receded. She seemed real at first, but later I came to learn the only thing real about her […]
*Art: Neva river by Igor Dubovoy • Russia carved a seal upon my head. • For months, maybe years, the biggest oddest reddest whitest bluest most fascinating country in the world (at the time, still today?) had called to me (2). Here she was, for a she she was, […]
You have to be a poet to do just about anything. You have to be a poet to translate another’s words. Only poets care enough about language to clearly convey one person’s thought to a different person’s understanding. Any other type of translator will blur the message. The best […]
This morning I assigned my students two simple writing prompts, exercising the present tense. They had to use the words “as soon as,” “first,” “next,” “then,” “before/after,” and “when.” We all learned. For example, I realized, as I chalked the prompts on the blackboard, that “when” plays as the middle […]
Wouldn’t it be nice to dive a little deeper, to investigate, to engage? Curiosity can sometimes feel like holding our breath, but at least this way we can swim down into a deep subject, without swallowing any water. Metaphors enough. For this weekend’s post the idea of interviewing a […]
A buddy sent me this sketch from College Humor last Sunday, which satirizes the stereotypes Americans have against New Yorkers. My favorite part was the joke about NYC getting criticized more than any other city. “Nobody ever talks shit about Cincinnati,” says the man from Ohio. “That’s actually […]
The stories we tell ourselves set the standards we live by. The love stories from the title, which are three, are to come. But first, a joust. An architect, a cook, and a writer walk up to a British immigration officer. This is literally what happened when our father, […]
4.0 out of 5 stars Purchase, learn, reflect. Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2018 After viewing this documentary, I can only say one thing, a single word echoed various times near the end, the answer to the question asked of friends and of colleagues of Maryla Mikalowsi-Dyamant, […]