Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 7
September 26, 2018
Even Further Conversation about Reading Challenging Books . . .
[image error] Our current conversation has had 6 installments; beginning on September 12th and continued on September 14th, 17th, 19th, 21st, and 24th—each installment powered by one or more reader comments on the previous installment…
The comment permitting this continuation of the discussion comes from an author and publisher in Germany:
“One summer term in the early 1990s, I had an English class assigned to read ‘The Canterbury Tales‘. Although it was a literary subject, the professor usually taught li...
September 25, 2018
Yes, Virginia, There Is A Sh*tty First Draft
Yes, it appears most writers’ first drafts need lots of work; yet, today’s re-blog author says: “…there’s value in a sloppy, disorganized, poorly written first draft. It’s not a failure, it’s a necessary first step.”
Read on :-)
Sorry kid, we regret we’re unable to include your pony request in North Pole Review, please keep us in mind for future submissions
Interviewing an author for the Brevity Podcast, I ask how his book is coming along. He says it’s terrible. He h...
September 24, 2018
Further Conversation about Reading Challenging Books . . .
[image error] This conversation began on September 12th and continued on September 14th, 17th, 19th, and 21st…
The posts on the 19th and 21st had a list of Challenging books…
And, though there’ve been 9 readers’ comments in the posts of this discussion, the one on the 21st is what’s let this conversation continue today…
This comment comes from an accomplished author living in Melbourne, Australia (our author begins by referring to books in the mentioned list...):
I have read (and enjoyed) ‘The Waste Land’...
September 22, 2018
Write What You (Want To) Know
Something to think about… :-)
I think my mother knows more than she’s telling…
Perhaps the most famous piece of writing advice ever: “Write what you know.” A maxim right up there with “don’t quit your day job” and “vampires are done.”
But should you?
One of my favorite writers is Dick Francis (the when-he-was-alive version, not the now-he’s-a-brand version). Francis wrote horse-racing mysteries. Early in his career, they were all about horse-racing, and the skuldug...
September 20, 2018
Yet More Conversation about Reading Challenging Books . . .
This conversation began on September 12th and continued on September 14th, 17th, and 19th… [image error]
We had a comment on the post on the 19th; so, we can carry the discussion further…
That last post had a list of 10 purportedly difficult or challenging books; and Martina’s comment is acknowledging a book on that list:
“‘The Scarlet Letter‘ was my subject for final exams in my English class at university. I didn’t think it was ‘difficult’; but, ‘challenging’ is a good term to describe it. There are so...
September 19, 2018
Brevity’s 59th Issue Predicts the Best Days for Breeding
Yep, not just blog posts—full Issues :-)
Brevity’s September 2018 issue contains crisp flash essays exploring blood on the pool deck, aces of spades, cremation, crow murder, diner Bodhisattvas, and the best days for breeding, from these amazing writers: Steven Schwartz, Peggy Duffy, Rachael Peckham, Alysia Sawchyn, Xujun Eberlein, Julie Marie Wade, Shuly Xóchitl Cawood, John A. McDermott, Austyn Gaffney, Jan Priddy, Suzanne Farrell Smith, Gabe Montesanti, Renée Branu...
Even More Conversation about Reading Challenging Books . . .
[image error] This conversation began on September 12th and continued on September 14th & 17th…
We’ve had a total of 8 reader comments that have moved the discussion along; and, here’s the one that let us continue from the 17th:
“Re: challenges we used to have—as a teenager, I wouldn’t have been able to work through a romance novel if you paid me—they just didn’t interest me. I found them implausible and dull. Now, I see them as light and frothy; but, fun like a movie romcom.
“I’m not sure what changed. M...
September 17, 2018
A Book’s Job by Barb Rosenstock
The author of today’s re-blog says this, “I watched kids in one suburban school, from all over the world, engage with my words in a deep way. Most importantly, I watched them relate to a boy from India born over 100 years ago—a boy who was forced to go, but who found home again through his art.”, as she explores the job of a book…
Your job is a teacher, mine is a writer. Or you’re a librarian and someone else is an illustrator. But what is a book’s job?
When you’ve been workin...
September 16, 2018
Still More Conversation about Reading Challenging Books . . .
[image error] This conversation began on September 12th and continued on September 14th…
The last post had 3 comments; so, we move the conversation forward…
First was Catherine:
“For me, bad storytelling is always a challenge. Clichés have been mentioned before. In certain genres different stories are written with the same words… It makes every story the same.
“As for a book that was emotionally, really challenging for me to read was ‘A Little Life‘ by Hanya Yanagihara. The most challenging thing about th...
