Category: writing
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Beautiful Sentences: Tom McAllister
Where do people get stories? Do they go out in the world looking for interesting anecdotes? When they get home, do they write these things down and rehearse them? Tom McAllister, How to Be Safe.
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Beautiful Sentences: Idra Novey
When she drifted from the kitchen to the living room, he followed, his hope rising like dough inside him. Idra Novey, Those Who Knew.
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Beautiful Sentences: Tom McAllister
The deepest miseries come from our capacity for remembering; if everything can be wiped away with a single swipe, then nothing has to hurt. Tom McAllister, How to Be Safe.
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Beautiful Sentences: Idra Novey
Her unease with her body had made his mouth dry, breaking down whatever it was in a man’s mind that kept his longings separate from his regrets. Idra Novey, Those Who Knew.
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Writerly resolutions: July Status
I made good progress on the novel this month. The net word gain was 4,400 words, but I made good progress writing and rewriting chapter 13 as the diagram on this page shows. I think part of the progress’s secret was that with the exception of just one day, I managed to do some work on…
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Beautiful Sentences: Tom McAllister
Middle-aged men saw news of the shooting and thought: The world needs me now. They put on their capes and swooped in to the rescue, but when they got there, they found out they had no superpowers. They were just sad men in capes. So they got angry and looked for a woman to blame.…
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Beautiful Sentences: Idra Novey
She had assured him she’d told no one about her trips to his apartment, but she was a girl, and girls were feline, always purring up to one another with their secrets. Idra Novey, Those Who Knew.
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Beautiful Sentences: Tom McAllister
I’m not sure what obituaries are for. You can tell people’s stories, but nothing you do is complete or accurate. It’s just a list of people they used to know and jobs they used to do. We spend so much time trying to be effective mourners, but we have no idea how to do it.…
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Beautiful Sentences: Lydia Kiesling
Why did I have a child? To have a child is to court loss. Lydia Kiesling, The Golden State.