PILGRIMAGES: Ryan Britt, “Holding Onto Part of the Journey” (6/6)
6There’s an essay in my book which begins with a scene on a rooftop of Bushwick, Brooklyn in which a younger version of myself worries about what will happen…
Creative Process
PILGRIMAGES: Ryan Britt, “No Place of One’s Own” (4/6)
Staring out into space wondering what you’re supposed to be writing next is a familiar scene either to real writers or fake writers in movies. In the latter, the space…
PILGRIMAGES: Ryan Britt, “There And There Again” (3/6)
The most famous fantasy novel–The Hobbit–also contains inside of it a pseudo-memoir. Bilbo Baggins claims to be writing his life story; a chronicle of…
PILGRIMAGES: Ryan Britt, “Searching For (And Loving) How You’re Labeled” (2/6)
Everyone loves to label artists. Think about it: the record store of those stone-age times before iPods divided music into categories for easy shopibility. Rock. Hip-Hop. Polka.
PILGRIMAGES: Ryan Britt, “Making It On Accident ” (1/6)
Ryan Britt is the Halley’s comet of pop culture critics: […]
PILGRIMAGES: Mike Albo, “How I Work” (6/6)
“I’m not doing enough.” That sentence lurks in my mind often. That little shadow-being mumbling out that phrase every time I feel like I haven’t spent enough time writing or working or whatever it is that makes you…
PILGRIMAGES: Mike Albo, “The Ups and Downs of Self-Promotion” (5/6)
Whenever I have a friend or acquaintance who is about to release a new book, I tell them to let themselves fantasize that this book is going to be a sensation.
PILGRIMAGES: Mike Albo, “The Fluidity of Expression” (4/6)
I mentioned before that I believe ideas are energy. I’d like to expand on that and say that I also think they are gender fluid. I know that sounds weird but what I mean is…
PILGRIMAGES: Mike Albo, “Idea Paranoia” (3/6)
Yesterday, I mentioned one huge roadblock to creativity: doubt in yourself and whether your voice is worthy. Another obstacle is related but a little harder to nail down, because it appears to be real and…
PILGRIMAGES: Mike Albo, “Writing Through the Roadblocks” (2/6)
Recently I was taking a trip with two fellow journalists. We chatted about what we have been working on. I mentioned I have written two novels and I can’t believe they ever…
PILGRIMAGES: Mike Albo, “Breaking the Binary Literary System” (1/6)
Mike Albo is my humor spirit guide. To see Mike […]
PILGRIMAGES: Julia Douglass, “How a Minnesotan Thinks” (3/6)
Yes. Going back home is an old story. And it was not easy. My east coast, razzle dazzle, highly voluble husband was completely freaking out about the quirks…
DISCOVERIES: Stacey Harwood & David Lehman, “The Forces of Lehman and Sinatra Combine” (6/6)
For today’s post I want to circle back to where we began, with David’s recent book (now available in bookstores) Sinatra’s Century…
DISCOVERIES: Stacey Harwood & David Lehman, “If Two Heads Are Better Than One Then…” (5/6)
David Lehman loves wordplay. He loves writing poems in both traditional and invented forms. He takes the writing of…
DISCOVERIES: Stacey Harwood & David Lehman, “Man of Letters Part 2” (4/6)
Yesterday we brought you Part I of a two-part in-depth interview with David. It touches on many of the themes and subjects that have concerned David over the course…
DISCOVERIES: Stacey Harwood & David Lehman, “Man of Letters Part 1” (3/6)
David Lehman is truly a man of letters. He’s published 10 volumes of poetry, edited dozens of anthologies, including the Oxford…