Rewriting a manuscript requires reading other writers and learning from them new ways of using the language—unthinkable ways, uncomfortable ways, unlikely ways. This is a quick list of what I took away from Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22.
Category: Writing
Author Interview: Isla McKetta on Writing from History
Isla McKetta is a Seattle novelist, book reviewer and blogger at A Geography of Reading, and she also serves on the board of Richard Hugo House. Isla and I met during our Goddard MFA program six years ago and I have been reading her work ever since. I’m thrilled that she has two new books…
When My Blogging Became Spam
Last week, Facebook’s new algorithm determined that posting a link on my timeline to my latest blog post was spam, so it didn’t display the link in anybody’s News Feed, except for the few people who had marked me as their family or close friend. I felt as if I had done something illegal and…
Author Interview: Jack Remick on Turning History into Story, Part 2
“I don’t always know where I’ve been when I write.” – Jack Remick Blood is the story of ex-mercenary Hank Mitchell who is in prison for stealing women’s underwear. The real reason for being in jail though is because he wants out of the guerilla wars financed by his brother-in-law’s corporation and waged against indigenous…
Author Interview: Jack Remick on Turning History into Story, Part 1
“It’s really not worthwhile to write if you don’t write a myth.” – Jack Remick Jack Remick is a poet, short story writer, novelist and teacher. More than twenty years ago, he and Robert J. Ray started a writing practice group that still meets every Tuesday and Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Louisa’s Café in Seattle….
Four Reasons to Join a Writing Practice Group
First posted on Bob and Jack’s Writing Blog on August 2, 2012 (Robert J. Ray and Jack Remick‘s writing blog). This post refers to the writing practice that starts every Tuesday and Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Louisa’s Café and Bakery in Seattle. We write for 45 minutes with a timer, then break into groups of four and…
Screenwriting Techniques and the Novel
First posted on Bob and Jack’s Writing Blog on January 26, 2012 (Robert J. Ray and Jack Remick‘s writing blog). In my previous post on Bob and Jack’s blog (see Guest Writers), I wrote about the early stages of my novel The Wedding Bell. This post is about my journey as an apprentice toward the…