James Buchanan's Blog
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Feb.17.2012
I was very fortunate to have been raised by teachers for a couple of reasons. The first is that they instilled a deep curiosity and intellectual drive within me that continues to this day. The second is that they taught at Quaker schools, which instilled a sense of community and social justice.
I...
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Feb.02.2012
Hi All, I am sure many of you are equally as disgusted by the recent decision by the Susan G Komen for the Cure foundation's decision to de-fund Planned Parenthood's cancer screening and anti cancer work. It is disgusting and shameless. As a cancer survivor myself and someone living with the...
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Nov.23.2011
Hi,
I had to add two. One is of me and my daughter as she is selecting her first bikini at age 11. Enough to give me a heart attack for two reasons: A bikini and the arguing over what is an appropriate bikini for an 11 year old.
The other is one I took at the beach one day. I live near the...
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Nov.08.2011
Last night Joan Didion read in Cambridge, Mass., and I was lucky enough to have seen her do so. I went with a friend (a lovely and talented woman and writer in her own right) without any tickets hoping that there might be a smidge enough room for us to squeeze in, which, despite there being a...
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2 comments
Nov.01.2011
I think one of the things that has caused many writers to kind of avoid online only publications is that they are amorphous, they don't have the tangible or tactile qualities of a print publication. After all, we all grew up reading from books and magazines printed on paper and sold in stores and...
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Oct.31.2011
I really think that writing, especially creative writing, even if it is nonfiction, is ultimately an autodidactic pursuit. I don't think I have read an interview of any writer, successful or not, who while crediting parents or friends or an MFA program or some other motivator has not in some way...
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Oct.13.2011
Despite frustration that much of short fiction suffers from too much control from MFA programs and graduates, there is value to having an MFA. It will improve your writing and chances of publishing.
However, not everyone has the time or money (20 to 30 hours per week and $20,000 to $30,...
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3 comments
Oct.04.2011
When I first started writing I worked for a relatively well read bi-weekly newspaper that served a largish community here in New Hampshire. For what it was, it was a good newspaper put together by a relatively small staff of young writers and ad sales professionals. On the day that each issue came...
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Oct.04.2011
By nature I have never really been a very patient person. As a kid I always let money burn a hole in my pocket while my brother was good at saving his money and using for things that he wanted. He was also very good at attracting money, which seems to have persisted even now.
My lack of patience...
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Sep.30.2011
Today, I am reaching out to the Red Room community for some help with a parenting project.
As a single parent I am always challenged for time, money, and rest. It is a lot of work maintaining two children, one a young girl of 11 and the other a 13-year-old boy with Asperger's Syndrome. However, it...
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3 comments
Sep.21.2011
My last post was highly critical of one MFA graduate's hubris as well as the narrowing down of writing into hierarchical categories that are utterly meaningless, yet limit publication and the quality of short stories, essays, and literary journals. I did, however, say there are some exceptions.
Of...
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Sep.16.2011
So the great MFA debate takes another turn.
Last night I read with some interest an essay published on Slate.com by a writer vigorously complaining about Poets & Writers MFA program ranking system. As a graduate of Columbia University’s MFA program he was excised by the fact that P&W...
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2 comments
Sep.15.2011
The other night I went to a reading by Sven Birkerts of his new memoir at the Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, Mass. It was a nice reading for a number of reasons, not the least of which was observing how he has structured the book and his reasoning behind doing so.
Essentially, the memoir is...
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Sep.14.2011
I just received a press release for a new Web-based services that allows people to store all of their music in the so-called cloud. Their pitch is that users can finally free themselves of cords and USB ports and all of the many hassles of digital music by keeping their songs and albums in their...
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Sep.13.2011
When I first started writing it was actually possible to earn a living writing for magazines and newspapers. Unless you gained entry to the upper crust of the magazine world--a place primarily reserved for the connected--you wouldn't get rich, but you could afford your rent and bills and a modest...
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About James
James Buchanan is a 46-year-old writer living in the Seacoast region of New Hampshire with his two young children-Quincy and Violet and their leopard gecko Spotty.
Born in 1965 in Philadelphia, James attended Quaker schools throughout the elementary and...
Causes James Buchanan Supports
Expanding health care in the US, ending war as a viable tool of foreign policy, and issues related to social justice in general.
James’s Favorite Books
The Kite Runner, The Orchard, Cider House Rules, Water for Elephants, The Dive from Clausen's Pier, To Kill a Mockingbird, On Chesil Beach, Under the Tuscan...