Zen and the Art of Uncertainty

The anxiety is unbearable. I only hope it lasts forever.

-Oscar Wilde

It’s hard to believe nearly a year has gone by since my last post. I wanted to restart my blog so many times, but inevitably, some new project would get the way. Last spring I started new stories and revised old ones. With a couple of short stories doing their submission rounds, by mid-summer I felt I was on the right track. I was doing what I was supposed to be doing as a serious writer. Then, after the last

Breaking Through Writer’s Block

After my last blog on dealing with losing confidence in one’s skills as a writer, I looked for how more experienced and successful writers dealt with these periods. As I suspected, it doesn’t matter if you are a published author or not. Take a look at what a few well-known authors do to break through writers block:

Avoiding the Fiction Writer’s ‘I-Suck-Spiral’

Recently, on a social networking site, a writer described what a former writing teacher of mine called “The I-Suck-Spiral”, which I think all fiction writers are susceptible to from time to time.  He posted:

I’m going through one of those periods where my self-confidence is sorely lacking. It’s not helping that I’ve reached plot dead ends in two stories and my book. (Of course, those could be my inner critic having a field day with me too!) …everything I think of to move the story ahead [has] been done before, and I find myself wondering if I’ll ever be anything more than mediocre.

Book Review – The Faith of a Writer: Life, Craft, Art

My book review on Joyce Carol Oates’ collection of essays on writing, The Faith of a Writer, has just been published in The Uncustomary Book Review.  In my review I discuss my own creative writing process and include thoughts on early literary influences, rejection and inspiration. If you are interested, you can read it here.

(I’m now an  Uncustomary Reviewer, so please keep checking back for more book reviews.)

Imitation Is The Sincerest Form Of Discovery

My submission deadline is fast approaching and I’m swinging for the fences now.  I’ve changed the piece to present tense, a verb tense I’m not always comfortable with.  I question my motive when I do this.  But I’ve got to do something. When that doesn’t work, I change the point of view. Then when that doesn’t work, I dig in like a soldier in the trenches, determined not to give up but unable to gain any further ground.  But what is it that I am not satisfied with?  How many more words to delete, images to insert, details to define? 

Judging a Book By Its Cover

I recently attended a City Arts and Lectures interview with Gary Shteyngart (to be aired on KQED radio on 7/24/11). The interview focused on his recent novel, Super Sad True Love Story, which I’m halfway through right now. In this (near) futuristic world, it is rare for people to own and read books, which are regarded as smelly. No one understands the appeal when they have information streaming into their electronic gadgets.

“Favorite Child” – Winner of SER’s Writing Regimen Contest!

It’s official.  My story, “Favorite Child” has won The Southeast Review’s Spring 2011 Writing Regimen Contest and has just been published online.  It is a flash fiction piece, which employs 1st person omniscient.  If you’re interested, the story can be viewed here.

If you’d like to know more about my experience participating in their 30-day writing regimen, you can read about it on my post, “Re-envision, Reinvent, Revise” .