Third installment in the architecture series . . . I’m on a roll apparently. This strikes me as a nice, quaint little village on the verge of winter. Something about it is . . . relaxing. The lone lamp post has always held significance for me. It’s the Lantern that welcomes Lucy to Narnia from … More Inspiration, October 10
Continuing in the architectural vein . . . This is an actual photograph — check out all the dusters! I like the bridge-type structure in the background. I could imagine that being a train track of some kind. In the capital city where my heroine lives, Heredo, the train operates on a raised track above … More Inspiration, October 9
I love the old architecture in this photo. Churches, train stations, old buildings. I love thinking about what my cities are going to look like. Horse-drawn buggies, cobblestone, everything.
I feel like I can finally talk about this, because I have a date for when my fiction finally gets printed and I get to hold my own words in my own two hands. … More Story acceptance!
I have always loved Alex’s work. Right away when we began workshop together, when I was still a scared undergraduate in my head, I noticed that this guy wrote the kinds of stuff I like to read: the weird stuff, like watercolor dragons and alien flamingos. This guy has an imagination. His work stood out – and at the risk of sounding cliche or sappy, I knew we were gonna be friends. … More Story of the Week #14 — “Elegy in Running Water” by Alex Friedman
This week’s story is by a former classmate of mine. Megan graduated with her master’s degree a year before I did and is now studying for her MFA. Her writing is definitely what I would call Literary with a capital ‘L,’ and it’s no surprise to me that her stories are getting picked up left and … More Story of the Week #13 — “Lower Your Muzzle” by Megan Giddings
Since I’m bringing Story of the Week back after probably a year of neglect, I will treat you dear Readers to something short and sweet to start things off again. And since the deadline for the Fall 2014 issue of NEAT. is rapidly approaching, I think it’s appropriate to showcase one of the fiction pieces from … More Story of the Week #12 — “Cygnet Lake” by Doug McBride
I see a lot of those Internet lists that have titles like, “100 Classic Novels You Are a Dunce If You Haven’t Read by the Time You’re 20” and “20 New Novels That Are Totally In Style and Stuff So Read Them Blah.” The thing is, I have always felt a little iffy about these kinds of lists. . . . Therefore, I thought I’d make one of these list-y things. … More 10 Novels That Have Shaped the Stuff that Liz Writes
Surprise surprise, I’m reading something I’ve already read three times. More surprise, it’s my favorite book: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu. This book. This book. It was an accidental purchase on my Kindle about three years ago. I got a sample, thinking it looked neat but hesitant to spend the $10. I devoured the … More What is Liz Reading? — a review and minor gush-fest of “How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe” by Charles Yu
I recently read Atonement by Ian McEwan for class. This was a marvelous book. Touching, mysterious, and tense, this novel weaves through and around the life of thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis as she grows into being a writer and an individual. Atonement doesn’t shy away from the idea that being a writer means taking risks that sometimes don’t always turn … More Reading List # 10 — Atonement
