essays | essays
Mar.21.2009
There’s nothing like reading on radio to make you focus on how your writing sounds. I spent some time at the KQED studios Tuesday afternoon, recording an essay for the San Francisco Bay Area NPR affiliate’s “Perspectives” series, and two minutes yesterday morning listening to “Morning Edition” to...
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Feb.05.2009
Back in 1971 when I was a senior in high school in Waco, Texas, I won a prize in a national writing contest. It was sponsored by Alpha Kappa Alpha. Along with the winners from other states, I was flown to Chicago and then taken on a life-changing tour to Philadelphia, Virginia, Washington...
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Jan.13.2009
In 1994, I walked into a colleague's office and said, "I need to be in your writing group." It wasn't really a statement but a command. Let me in. Now.
For a few years, I'd been trying to get back into writing, something I had done since junior high school. I had all the excuses that...
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Nov.20.2008
Taking a break from my guest bloggers, I though today I'd treat you to a look at the similarity between writing articles, essays and books-the view from where I sit. I'm a journalist by trade, and, while I happen to be a working freelance journalist, I really make my living editing nonfiction books...
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Nov.11.2008
In case you've only recently discovered Write Nonfiction in November (WNFIN) or you're still struggling with what to write for the challenge - or you simply haven't found time until now to get started, here's another idea that you can still complete before month's end: write a newspaper or magazine...
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Sep.29.2008
Dear Contributors:
I have been pondering the concept of tresconsciousness for approximately a year and a half. And, I have come to the conclusion that my older brother is correct, as he often is, I should edit an anthology on the Black identity as it pertains to triple consciousness. Most people...
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Aug.25.2008
As the book editor (among my many other titles) at the Marin Independent Journal, I've had a lot of anthologies that come across my desk that look at life as (pick one or all):
1. a 20-something
2. a 30-something
3. a single person
4. a "bad girl"
5. the "other" woman
6. a...
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Aug.20.2008
I've been a member of Red Room for a while and haven't really set up my page to look anything exciting. I've been going in and out looking at people's pages and profiles and thinking, there are a lot of writers in this world, a lot of great writers. Who am I to say I want to be a part of this?
I'...
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Jul.24.2008
I don't know about you, but I'm a great believer in rewarding myself for major accomplishments, such as writing books, finding the same person fascinating after 20 years, having a MAJOR birthday, etc.
Consequently, I'm taking myself off tomorrow to a "Writers' Spa" in Taos, NM, at the...
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Jun.17.2008
My recent blogs have concerned ingenious solutions: Naomi Bock's brilliant essays about the future of the book (www.redroom.com) ; lawyer Terence Mix' "aha!" solution (dietary cholesterol administered to pregnant mothers in the first eight weeks of gestation) to the incidence of birth...
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