Category Archives: writing

The Power of Words, Part IV: Temperature

In a manuscript workshop I recently conducted, a participant submitted a story in which the antagonist chose the dark side after being forced by his government captors to watch his daughter’s burning at the stake. The scene had lots of … Continue reading

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The Power of Words, Part II: Things

–Say it, no ideas but in things– nothing but the blank faces of the houses and cylindrical trees bent, forked by preconception and accident– split, furrowed, creased, mottled, stained– secret–into the body of the light! from Paterson: Book I That’s … Continue reading

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The Power of Words, Part I

Words are keeping me awake–the words of a friend I last saw when I was eighteen.  From the sky into my inbox, the words exploded in a world I hadn’t conjured in a long, long time. We played remember when, … Continue reading

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Where to Go When You Don’t Know Where to Go

You don’t know what happens next. You believe you need to know. Not knowing makes you feel out of control, and you’re the author, after all. If you don’t know, who will? That’s another question you can’t answer. You stop … Continue reading

Posted in making art, mystery, reading, writing | 1 Comment

The Secret of Einstein’s Ability to Adapt to Failure

As part of my attempt to embrace the complexity of Albert Einstein, I’m exploring a chapter in Lewis Pyenson’s book The Young Einstein:  The Advent of Relativity.  Pyenson begins by enumerating the failures Einstein overcame prior to being awarded the … Continue reading

Posted in Dallas Willard, dealing with failure, Einstein, Helen Dukas, Lewis Pyenson, making art, point of view, reading, writing | Leave a comment

Ambiguity, Complexity, and Mystery

I just returned from two days spent at the Ohio University Literary Festival, where lectures were delivered by writers Amy Hempel (if you don’t know her story, “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried,” read it without passing Go), … Continue reading

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The Need for Obsession

I am a writer.  I am also a tennis player.  (In fact, I have torn the ligaments in my right elbow playing tennis, and in lieu of having Tommy John surgery, I wear a wrist-to-shoulder metal  Bledsoe brace on my … Continue reading

Posted in Annie Darwin, Charles Darwin, death, Einstein, Einstein's children, Einstein's Daughter, Generating Fiction from History and/or Fact, historical fiction, Mileva Maric, obsession, point of view, reading, Serbia, writing, Zurich | 1 Comment

The Inner Conflict

I will be teaching a workshop on writing the endings of short stories and novels at the Mad Anthony Writers’ Workshop April 13-15 in Hamilton, Ohio.  In the process of preparing, I was made conscious of subjects that generally remain … Continue reading

Posted in Charles Darwin, Einstein, Generating Fiction from History and/or Fact, historical fiction, inner conflict, Mileva Maric, Pauline Einstein, reading, writing | Leave a comment

Learning from the Historical Fiction of Other Writers

I’m just finishing up a debut novel by Debra Dean called The Madonnas of Leningrad, a must-read for art lovers and anyone who wants to know what it was like to survive the terrible winter of the Nazi seige of … Continue reading

Posted in Debra Dean, Fictional biography, Generating Fiction from History and/or Fact, Hermitage, historical fiction, methods for creativity, reading, Siege of Leningrad, The Madonnas of Leningrad, writing | Leave a comment

Grappling with Gaps in the Record

In keeping with my resolve not to change the historical record where it exists, I still wrestle with how to handle the gaps.   The writing of fictional biography gives me some license, of course, but I mostly interpret that to … Continue reading

Posted in Auguste Forel, Bulgholzli Psychiatric Hospital, Eduard Einstein, Einstein's Daughter, Fictional biography, Generating Fiction from History and/or Fact, historical fiction, Marija Maric, Michele Zackheim, Mileva Maric, Milos Maric, point of view, reading, schizophrenia, Serbia, writing, Zorka Maric, Zurich | 2 Comments