Barbara Abercrombie's Blog, page 22
February 19, 2011
Writers Boot Camp - 4 Days
Here are four things I learn every time I teach the four day Writers Studio at UCLA Extension: 1. 99.9 percent of people who come to writing workshops are insecure about their writing. 2. Five minute writing exercises are the...
February 16, 2011
Margaret K. McElderry 1912-2011
Margaret K. McElderry died at the age of 98 this week. Legendary is a word that comes up a lot when her name is mentioned; she edited many children's books that became winners of Caldecott and Newbury medals (one memorable...
February 9, 2011
Writers Studio
WritingTime will be silent until next week. UCLA Extension's Writers Studio starts tomorrow and ends Sunday evening. One of the best parts of teaching - besides meeting a whole new bunch of wonderful people and reconnecting with previous students -...
February 7, 2011
Keep Writing
Recently there was a snarky article in the New York Times Book Review suggesting that too many people are writing and publishing memoirs, and who wants to read another book about owning a crazy dog, losing weight, depression, cancer, trying...
February 4, 2011
Operators Standing By! Bargain Price!
The marketing whore is back. My new book, Cherished:21 Writers On Animals They Have Loved and Lost, coming out in April, is now available for pre-order on Amazon. New World Library (my publisher) and I will love you forever if...
February 3, 2011
Clutter
When I finish a draft of a book I always clear up the clutter (i.e total mess) in my office. As I write the second draft the clutter all comes back. It's a living metaphor; I'm also dealing with the...
January 28, 2011
Waiting for the Train
David Vann began Caribou Island years ago and had to put it aside because of technical difficulties he couldn't solve. But when he returned to it fourteen years later the writing came very quickly, like a "freight train." "That's not...
January 26, 2011
Difference Between a Book and a Blog
The difference between writing a book and writing a blog becomes really clear to me as I work on A Year of Writing Dangerously. I'm using some of the posts from this blog in the book but each one needs...
January 24, 2011
Upcoming Workshops
My next workshop is Writing the Personal Essay at the UCLA Extension Writers Studio (Feb. 10th - 13th). In the spring I'll be teaching a six week, four hour, advanced non-fiction course (12 students only) at UCLA Extension, Tuesday mornings...
January 21, 2011
Aunt Boo's House
The Jeffers' cottage in Carmel - Tor House – remains today, half a century after Robinson Jeffer's death, with the dishes and photographs, inkwells and piano, books and furniture, and hundreds of precious objects intact. Including the bed where Jeffers...
