Chris Abouzeid's Blog, page 2

Starting a Poetry Group: Tales from the Steeple Street Poets

By Dell Smith Robin Smith-Johnson and James Kershner are Cape Cod poets and founding members of the poetry group Steeple Street Poets. Today we present a conversation between these two seasoned writers about their experiences starting their own group and cultivating a writing situation to suit their needs. They bring ...

Journaling 101: Getting Back to Basics

By Kim Triedman   Root. Rooted. Rootless. That’s all I’ve got setting out on this post, variations on a theme that’s wormed its way into my head and won’t leave me in peace. So I guess we’ll just start there and see how things go….er, grow. People sometimes ask me ...

Earning A Reader’s Time

By Randy Susan Meyers Most readers have more choices than time, so here’s the question: why should they spend that time with you? My advice? When you ask that question, be hard on yourself. A few years ago, I led a discussion about the covenant between readers and writers with a group ...

The View from Outside: Cara Hoffman interviews Punk Noir Novelist Jon Frankel

By Cara Hoffman I met Jon Frankel when I was in my 20s, writing for a small newspaper upstate. Jon was one of my first literary mentors: a drop out single-dad who had published a punk-noir “medical thriller,” worked in the stacks of a college library, spent his money on ...

Elitism in Publishing (Redux*)

By Becky Tuch The other day I was in the bookstore when I came upon the newest novel by Michael Cunningham. A great prose stylist, Mr. Cunningham. His book, A Home at the End of the World has been on my short-list of favorites for many years. So I was ...

Elitism in Publishing (Redux*)

By Becky Tuch The other day I was in the bookstore when I came upon the newest novel by Michael Cunningham. A great prose stylist, Mr. Cunningham. His book, A Home at the End of the World has been on my short-list of favorites for many years. So I was ...

A Year’s Nonfiction

By Harvey Freedenberg Since 2007 I’ve been asked to compile a list of favorite books from the sixty or so I’ve reviewed each year. Last year, writing in this space, I described the power of a year’s worth of fiction to create an overwhelming feeling of empathy for lives I ...

A Criminal Plot (Redux)*

By Kathy Crowley Hi, my name is Kathy and I am powerless over plot. Okay, powerless may be overstating, but let’s say it’s my particular authorial challenge. Characters? Yeah, no problem. Dialogue? Not too bad. Ability to overwrite: outstanding. Plot: Well, character is plot, isn’t it? Didn’t some great writer ...

Dissecting Characters

by Charles Garabedian I walk into my examination room and see a new patient sitting on a chair with his legs crossed. He wears a suit jacket and tie and his hair is trimmed neatly, something I don’t often see in teenagers. I smile and introduce myself. He stands up, ...

The Joy of Writing (Redux)*

By Dell Smith When I was a young writer I approached writing, both the idea and the act of it, like a dipsomaniac approached alcohol: I went on binges that lasted weeks. Then I stopped cold turkey. It was ritual that became habit forming. It was an obsessive way of ...