Randy Susan Meyers's Blog, page 12
August 14, 2018
Ten Books for Ten Moods
If you read as I do (unceasingly, never sticking to any one genre, and always with a backup book (or ten) just in case, you’re always seeking books to match your current mood, yes? Pride and Prejudice won’t do when you’re in a Frankenstein mood. There are times nothing will work except dark and broody-moody, to […]
July 25, 2018
MUDBOUND = Spellbound
I can’t imagine I am the first person to come up with the above title, but I can think of no other way to express my admiration for this book. And by admiration, I do not mean the awe-struck, wow-this-is-pretty-writing regard that I would give a brilliantly constructed book that engendered my respectful yawning. Mudbound […]
July 11, 2018
Writing on Demand
By Kathy Crowley “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” — Stephen King I have a confession to make to all of you out there who’ve been in workshops with me. While it is absolutely true that I have learned from […]
July 9, 2018
And Then There’s Politics: How Much Should An Author Share?
I think if you say that art and politics, or religion and politics, mustn’t mix, don’t mix, that is itself a political statement. Even if you are writing a 19th-century novel where the money comes from a plantation in the Caribbean and you don’t talk about that, that itself is a political thing.— Mohsin Hamid […]
June 25, 2018
The (Dis)Comfort of Money: a present for readers for “The Widow of Wall Street” paperback launch day
The paperback for The Widow of Wall Street launches Tuesday, June 26th! Widow of Wall Street tells the story of a woman, a man, son, and daughter caught in the before, during, and after of a Ponzi scheme—a man with a criminal hunger for wealth, and his wife, who unknowingly […]
June 21, 2018
(Impossibly Condensed) Checklists for Writing a Novel
Every time I teach “Structuring a Novel With Good Bones” I learn again how difficult it is to condense the process into six hours . . . and how exhilarating it is to step back and look at the entire process. At day’s end it seemed as though I’d climbed a mountain where (for a […]
June 16, 2018
Win “The Widow of Wall Street” (+ more) For Everyone in Your Book Club!
“Phoebe never hated her husband more than when she visited him in prison.” In celebration of the paperback launch of The Widow of Wall Street, two book clubs will win a copy of the book for each member. In addition, the winning entrant will win a hard copy of the limited edition Comfort of Food cookbook, the […]
June 5, 2018
Ten Secrets to Sinatra Gardening
“If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.” I sing those words to newly-purchased plants I drive them home. My garden, rather than a zone of tender nurturance and rule-following is a survival of the fittest zone. I began gardening on a whim, with containers in the front of my then-narrow townhouse, and […]
May 20, 2018
The Communities We Choose: A Commencement Speech by Charles Coe
By Charles Coe Good afternoon to the graduating class. Good afternoon to families and friends, teachers and administrators and everyone who’s played a role in you being here today. My thanks to President Leary and the other members of the Bay Path community who decided to grant me this honorary degree and invited me to […]
May 13, 2018
The Push and Pull of Mothers and Daughters
I never met a book by Ruth Reichl I haven’t loved, and my adoration continued with this book. Where others were hearty meals, Not Becoming My Mother (retitled for the paperback as For You Mom, Finally) was a deceptively simple snack. (I’m certain that Ms. Reichl, editor of Gourmet Magazine, would find a more elegant […]
