Amy Tan | Amy Tan
Jun.18.2013
Today Hard Listening: The Greatest Rock Band Ever (of Authors) Tells All, by Stephen King, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, Dave Barry, Roy Blount Jr., Mitch Albom, James McBride, Ridley Pearson, Matt Groening, Greg Iles, Sam Barry, and Roger McGuinn is unleashed upon the world.
Hard Listening is an...
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Jun.21.2012
Writer's lives are filled with characters. Not just people but people who shape our landscape, our plot, our narrative in ways that intertwine the personal, the political and the professional in a very particular way. When I think about the characters I put on the page, they are as real...
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Dec.02.2011
About two months ago, my pal and fellow writer Walter Kirn asked if I had any short stories, which might be suitable for a new online digital publisher called Byliner. I knew of the company, because I had bought a piece by Jon Krakauer called "Three Cups of Deceit," ...
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Dec.02.2011
Twenty years ago, Kathi Kamen Goldmark had a whimsical idea. This was not unusual. She often has these things. And this particular one was a fantasy of starting a band of authors who would do a one time gig in a big rock and roll venue. It would be for a charitable cause --...
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Jun.01.2011
WRITE THAT BOOK ALREADY! is a great volume for aspiring and established authors because the motivation, empowerment, and very useful knowledge it provides do not come to an end once you have finished reading the book itself. In fact, in many ways, that is when it takes on its greatest meaning and...
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Jan.29.2011
Red Room asked us to blog on the best writing conference, to single one out. But I have been to several of these conferences and different ones are good at different things. I’ll list seven or eight here where I’ve participated or taught. I used dollar signs ($$) to show relative cost; many...
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Nov.30.2010
Like most people, when I fly I am crammed in the general seating area fighting for elbow space. I reach my seat by taking the walk of shame past all the people in First Class and Premium Class and Business Class to get to my seat in Lower Primate Class. I don’t appreciate the baggage fees or the...
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Jun.21.2010
This past Saturday night Kathi and I went and saw Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) at the San Francisco Opera. Produced by Stephen Spielberg and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, the cast of this all-star production of the Wagnerian classic includes Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Johnny Depp...
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Apr.26.2010
Today our subject is a magnificent, important, beautifully-written, breathtakingly significant book that, by an astounding coincidence, I co-authored. But that’s not the reason I am blogging about it. I would never use The Daily Sam, or Facebook, or Twitter, etc. to promote myself. As always, my...
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Apr.23.2010
We are on our way north for the next Remainders show at the Nokia Center in New York City. It’s been a fun tour, and I just want to share a couple of highlights. On our first night Amy Tan broke out her portable Karaoke machine and since Roger McGuinn was with us, we dialed up “Turn, Turn, Turn.”...
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