“I never print anything out, only endlessly manipulate the words on the screen, carving fiction in ether. I enjoy keeping the book amorphous and fluid until the last possible moment. There’s no paper trail, I destroy the traces of revision by overwriting the same disk every day when I back up my work. In that sense, it occurs to me now, I’m more like the painter I trained to be—my early sketching is buried beneath the finished layer of oil and varnish.”

— Jonathan Lethem (via theparisreview)

“If you hate your parents, the man, or the establishment, don’t show them up by getting wasted and wrapping your car around a tree. If you really want to rebel against your parents: outlearn them, outlive them, and know more than they do.”

— Henry Rollins (via l-eedle)

“The escape for the child is by reading stories wherein victory flavors life.”

— Mabel L. Robinson (via abcofreading)

“Children’s and YA books are about being brave and kind, about learning wisdom and love, about that journey into and through maturity that we all keep starting, and starting again, no matter how old we get. I think that’s why so many adults read YA: we’re never done coming of age.”

—

Betsy Cornwell, interview in Uncommon YA (via betsycornwell)

<3

(via bookphile)

“Write beautifully what people don’t want to hear.”

— Frederick Seidel, on his disagreeable poetry (via theparisreview)

Cut/Paste/Complete: Dummy Book

Yesterday I completed my first dummy book. I have to admit that it was an incredibly helpful exercise. There were edits that I came across that I would not likely discover if I hadn’t cut and paste computer paper together. There are only a couple of spots left in this particular book that I’m a bit unsure of. 

I have contacted a very talented and recommended writing coach. For a small and reasonable fee, she has agreed to review my manuscript. My goal is to get her two by the first of October. On to the next PB!

In the meantime, since returning from Barcelona (pictures to be posted), I’ve started to consider pursuing a Young Adult project that involves Macbeth and JFK. 

On word with few words.  

Also, I’ve been reading/obsessing over Sin and Syntax by Constance Hale. Read it. Anyone who writes anything in the English language should read this book. 

“Children are game for anything. I throw them hard words, and they backhand them over the net. They love words that give them a hard time, provided they are in a context that absorbs their attention.”

— E.B. White (via abcofreading)

“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals—sounds that say listen to this, it is important.”

—

Gary Provost (via tuongexists)

Holy crap, what just happened there… (via cyrusgabriel)

Words, man. Words.

(via harperperennial)

“I never type in the morning. I don’t get up in the morning. I drink at night. I try to stay in bed until twelve o’clock, that’s noon. Usually, if I have to get up earlier, I don’t feel good all day. I look, if it says twelve, then I get up and my day begins. I eat something, and then I usually run right up to the race track after I wake up. I bet the horses, then I come back and Linda cooks something and we talk awhile, we eat, and we have a few drinks, and then I go upstairs with a couple of bottles and I type — starting around nine-thirty and going until one-thirty, to, two-thirty at night. And that’s it.”

— Charles Bukowski’s daily routine and wisdom on writing – a fine addition to the daily routines and peculiar rituals of famous writers. (via explore-blog)

“Death is a Dialogue between
The Spirit and the Dust.”

— Emily Dickinson, from “[976]” (via proustitute)

penamerican:

Kevin Spacey is turning out to be a pretty good ambassador for trying to get Hollywood to take its collective head out of its collective ass. 

Common sense from Kevin Spacey. Worth watching.

Kevin Spacey, making a lot of sense on the current state of television and the success of the Netflix model.

Truth....

I spend just as much time fooling around on the internet now as when I had a real job… except this job is way better. 

“A thrilling picture book not only makes beautiful single images or sequential images, but also allows us to become aware of a book’s unique physical structure, by bringing our attention, once again, to that momentous moment: the turning of the page.”

— Remy Charlip (via abcofreading)