On Sunday, Feb, 21, my students from the Writer’s Block Party and the Literary Posse and I will be doing a reading at Laguna Beach Books, 1200 South Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, 4 pm. Come by for nibbles and sips, great company, and a sweet literary way to close out the weekend. No charge.
Lisa Gornick, author of Louisa Meets Bear, joins Marrie Stone to talk about whether her book is novel or linked short stories. She talks about structure, character, revision, and all the things necessary to write effective novels and short story collections.
In the second half, short story writer Elizabeth Tallent returns with her first collection in over two decades. She talks about Mendocino Fire, how her writing has changed over time, and more.
(Broadcast date: October 28, 2015)
Janet Reid is a lit agent in NYC. On her blog she talks about what is–and isn’t–a good query letter. Click here to find out what she says. It’s good and will only take a minute or two to read.
Back in 2006, the Greg Haidl case was big news here in these parts–Newport Beach, Newport Coast, Corona del Mar–and in perhaps all of Orange County. I followed the story, fascinated and sickened by how what happened could have happened. This year novelist Victoria Patterson, who went to high school at Corona del Mar High, where my son graduated from, published her novel The Little Brother, inspired by the case. She’s been on Writers on Writers with me, a featured author at the Pen on Fire Speaker Series, and will visit with my private studio workshop tonight. Here is an interview I did with her for the Los Angeles Review of Books.
Where do you write? Do you write in an office or in the car? In bed or in the bathtub? I’d like a little shed, no distractions. Check this out.
Lisa Lutz, author of How to Start a Fire, joins co-host Nicole Nelson to talk about writing in multiple points of view, moving from screenplay writing to novel-writing, and also about being labeled with the category of “Women’s Fiction.” Her book was used as an example of how the label unacceptably labels fiction by and about women as a subcategory of the real thing in a column by the Chicago Tribune’s John Warner. Then Emily Gould, author of Friendship, enters the conversation to discuss how exploring her own interiority as a blogger and essayist helped her develop compassion for her characters, how time is a luxury when revising, and also how finding a title (as well as naming a baby) is hard.
Download audio
(Broadcast date: July 22, 2015)
Palm Springs Noir, an anthology published by Akashic Books, edited by Barbara, also features her short story “The Water Holds You Still.” Order anywhere you buy books.
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Get in the flow with typewriter music by Travis Barrett.
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