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Monthly Archives: January 2011
Why I’m Watching Downton Abbey
Because I’m working on a Big Thing, a work in progress that’s partially set in the Gilded Age and the Edwardian Era. Because I need to time travel. I’ve been reading lots of biographies, histories, and fiction of and about … Continue reading
Posted in Writing
Tagged Consuelo Vanderbilt, Downton Abbey, Edwardian Era, Evelyn Nesbit, Gilded Age, historical, research, Somewhere in Time
5 Comments
This is How You Do It #1: Writeshop
You need to know this: I was not talking about MFA programs in my Millions essay. Or at least, not MFA programs exclusively. I was also talking about undergraduate creative writing programs. I think it’s possible (and necessary) to accommodate … Continue reading
Posted in Teaching
3 Comments
How I Taught Myself to Write a Novel
An outtake from my Millions essay. Hope you enjoy it. My first book, The Circus in Winter, a novel-in-stories, was written over the course of twelve years-one story at a time-and thus provides a wide-ranging experience as the reader observes … Continue reading
Posted in Writing
Tagged Dan Chaon, Karin Lin-Greenberg, novel, novel-in-stories, short story
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Who says that nobody cares about creative writing pedagogy?
I learned a lot this week. It was sort of like going to AWP without having to go to AWP. It was a standing-room only panel in an enormous hotel ballroom, the inspiring kind of panel that recharges your soul-weary batteries. Continue reading
Pedagogy Disguised as Humorous (But Completely Serious) Essay
[The composition history of my essay, "The Big Thing," now titled "The Story Problem: 10 Thoughts on Academia's Novel Crisis," is up at The Millions on 1.18.11.] In January 2010, I write an informal mini-lecture to deliver to my graduate … Continue reading
Posted in CW Programs, Teaching, Writing
Tagged AWP, Creative Writing, pedagogy, The Millions
18 Comments
