“10 Minute Writer’s Workshop”
This podcast published by the New Hampshire Public Radio is my new commute boost. It’s exactly what it sounds like: 10 minutes of writer talk. Each episode features a brief interview with a writer — from an LL Bean catalog writer to a best selling novelist to a TV screenwriter to Patti Freaking Smith — where they ask questions like “What’s your writing routine?” and “Dear god, how do I get as prolific as you?”
My favorite so far has been the interview with short story writer Ottessa Moshfegh.
On getting off social media:
“I think privacy and self protection from the garbage all around us is really important to a writer, especially starting out, when you don’t have those natural filters.”
Check out all the episodes here.
New books
This book, “Books for Living” by Will Schwalbe, was a gift from my brother, a librarian in Ohio. The book is a compilation of essays about Schwalbe’s favorite books and what he has learned about life from each of them. It’s a wonderful reminder of why reading is so, well, also wonderful. It’s always interesting to hear why someone likes a book you also liked and see how they got something different out of it than you did. Shout out to my BFF for the sweet Frida birthday bookmark. Do my people know me or what?
This one’s a library rental so I can’t highlight, but how real is this:
“He pressed her nose against her hair and breathed in her school smell, a smell like the flavor of a postage stamp.“
Michael Chabon’s “Moonglow” is full of showstoppers like this. It’s why he’s a giant.
I wish to swim in all his sentences.
Words on the street
Sometimes the truth is louder as words. Here’s to basic, bold statements…
