The coffee shop is packed with them: young, hip, ironic writer types purporting to work on short stories, dissertations, even a couple of novels. Small wobbly tables support MacBook Pros with Retina Displays, along with half empty mocha latte cups, and the latest version of iPhone. The human operators of these machines are creative and intelligent, if somewhat distracted. In between all of their tweeting,… [Read More]
I read a lot, for both work and pleasure. When I read for work, my eyes scan every line, sentence, paragraph, page, chapter, and full manuscript for different criteria. I check spelling, grammar, punctuation, style, voice, tense, pacing, continuity, plot, narrative arc, tension, climax, resolution, and other less definable qualities such as honesty, heart, and whether the work might bring something new and necessary into… [Read More]
Your laptop is charged, you sip a steaming cup of Zen tea and Lyle Lovett and His Large Band rocks your iTunes. You’re ready to work on your newest project, hoping to rack up a thousand words before dinner. The problem: your dog is whining for a walk, the dishwasher needs to be unloaded, and you’re reasonably sure that the lawn isn’t going to mow… [Read More]
