Yearly Archives: 2011

A writing workshop, upcoming salon, & radio

Posted September 9 2012 by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

I always forget to post here that my Gotham Writing Workshop called “Jumpstart Your Writing” begins on October 2. You can read all about it here. It’s an online workshop for writers who need to, as it says, jumpstart their writing.  There’s exercises, lectures, critiques.  What’s also fun about it is that writers from all over the world participate.  Email me if you have questions for me.

Also, the Pen on Fire Writers Salon will host novelists Susan Straight and Tatjana Soli on Sept. 18.  You can read more about it here.

And the show (Writers on Writing) as always, broadcasts Wednesday mornings at 9 a.m. PT on KUCI-FM 88.9.  Listen at iTunes college radio or at www.kuci.org (click on the upper right hand corner and listen on your computer or smart phone).  Podcasts of past shows are posted here and on writersonwriting.blogspot.com (the dedicated show blog).   Coming up this month and next are Laura Lippman, Rex Pickett (“Sideways” author), Cheryl Strayed, Jo-Ann Mapson, Arthur Plotnik, Ilie Ruby, D.T. Max and Claire Johns.

Robin Hemley interview

Posted August 28 2012 by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

This is a Voices on Writing feature I wrote for the June issue of The ASJA Monthly, which I edit. This is the unedited version. More Voices on Writing Q&As at www.asja.org; click on The ASJA Monthly.

Voices on Writing: Robin Hemley

Robin Hemley is the author of ten books of nonfiction and fiction and the winner of many awards including a 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship, The Nelson Algren Award for Fiction from The Chicago Tribune, The Story Magazine Humor Prize, an Independent Press Book Award, two Pushcart Prizes and many others. His fiction, nonfiction, and poetry has been published in the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, Japan, the Philippines, and Hong Kong, and he teaches creative writing workshops around the world. He has been widely anthologized and has published his work in such places as The New York Times, The Believer, The Huffington Post, Orion, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago Tribune, New York Magazine, and literary magazines. The BBC is currently developing a feature film based on his book Invented Edenthat tells the story of a purported anthropological hoax in the Philippines. His third collection of short stories, Reply All, is forthcoming in 2012 from Indiana University Press (Break Away Books) and The University of Georgia Press recently published his book A Field Guide For Immersion Writing: Memoir, Journalism, And Travel (reviewed by Steve Weinberg in this month’s What’s in Store column). He is a senior editor of The Iowa Review as well as the editor of a popular online journal, Defunct (Defunctmag.com) that features short essays on everything that’s had its day. He currently directs the Nonfiction Writing Program at The University of Iowa and is the founder and organizer of NonfictioNow, a biennal conference that will convene in November 2012 in Melbourne, Australia.

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Poetry

Posted August 18 2012 by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

Every so often I rant about how everyone should read poetry if they want their writing to move to the next level. So here’s a poem for you, one I just ran into today on Melanie’s blog, by Theodore Roethke.  I’ve loved this poem ever since I studied poetry in college. Do you read poetry–ever?  Favorite poem? Post a link if there is one.

The Waking

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.
Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.
This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I learn by going where I have to go.

Ken Ballen & Tim Harford

Posted August 12 2012 by Marrie Stone

Ken Ballen, author of Terrorists in Love: The Real Lives of Islamic Radicals talks to Marrie Stone about why and how some of the world’s most dangerous terrorists opened up and shared their stories, America’s misconceptions about terrorism, and what we should really fear.  Tim Harford, author of Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure, chats about how this book has helped with his own approach to writing and life.  
Download audio. 
(Broadcast date: July 4, 2012)

Blueberry tarts for fella tarts

Posted August 12 2012 by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

Okay, this one isn’t about books or authors or the show, but about tarts. Cleanse your minds, folks; you’ve been looking at online porno a bit too much.  I’m talking about the tarts you make from scratch using summer fruit.  In this case, blueberries.  These tarts were a major hit and my cousin Gerry and a few friends asked for the recipe, so here it is.  The recipe hasn’t been kitchen tested so don’t sue me if the tarts don’t come out exactly right. But the recipe is kinda basic so I’m confident your result will be delish.

Blueberry tarts for fella tarts
It’s so hard to get it exactly right when you see how things are going and you add a little more of this or that. Most tart recipes can be modified. Cakes—no.  They rely more on chemistry and exactly measures but it’s hard to mess up a pie.
Crust
Wheat…
Any pie crust recipe. I used one from my Fanny Farmer cookbook and instead of a full 2 cups of unbleached flour, used ½ cup of whole wheat flour and 1 ¾ cups of unbleached.
or
Gluten free….Also made a gluten free flour mixed that tasted heavenly and held together using 1 cup of tapioca starch, 1 cup of brown rice flour and ½ cup of almond meal that I ground using raw almonds and then sifted so it was all smooth. This with a pinch of salt and 12 tablespoons of ice cold butter and water.
then
Line little tartlet metal molds (bought mine at Sur le Table) and bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 10 minutes or until they look lightly done.
In the meantime…
Blueberries
4 or so cups of fresh blueberries
1 cup of sugar (I used organic)
3 T cornstarch
1 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
(optional: a tablespoon or two of butter. I didn’t add it but for butter lovers, you might want to)
Mix the sugar, cornstarch salt and water in a pot and cook over very low heat until thickened.  Add blueberries and cook a little more.  Turn off heat but allow the mixture to stay in the pot and cool.
Crumb topping
Mix ¼ cup of flour and ¼ cup of brown sugar, mix, then add two tablespoons of cold butter. Mix with your fingers.  You want a crumbly texture. If the mixture seems too buttery, add in some brown sugar, then flour. It’s hard to mess this up. 
Complete and bake…
Now, you have a couple dozen partially baked tart shells, a cooked blueberry mixture and a crumb topping. Scoop blueberries into the tart shells so they are nicely rounded and once they’re all filled, sprinkle with the crumb topping. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Bake a little more until the crumb topping looks a little golden and the edge of the tarts are a little golden, too. You can always use this to make one big plump pie and there’s enough pie crust to make a lattice top instead of using crumbs. And you can also use a different fruit and the same ingredients.  Up to you! Let me know how it goes. Take a picture! And enjoy. 
Love, Barbara