This year, I've been upping the number of memoirs I read, which is surprising to me, because I haven't been drawn to the genre in the past. But I've been having good luck with the ones I've chosen lately, and I've found each one to be inspiring, in its own way. I would recommend any … Continue reading Memoirs in my reading stack…
Here's a great piece about Ursula K. Le Guin being published by Library of America. She's a feisty old broad, and I mean that in the most affectionate way.
I had been trying to recommend a new read each month, and I still fell behind on my recommendations. So of course I'm upping my goal to recommending a new read each week! Starting with this one... Does Ursula K. Le Guin write bad books? If so, I haven't found them. While this collection of … Continue reading Recommended Reading: Four Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Wave in the Mind: Talks and Essays on the Writer, the Reader, and the Imagination as a collection is something of a hodgepodge, but there are many valuable nuggets to be mined, so it's a worthwhile book for any aspiring writer to consult from time to time. The personal essays in the first section, "Personal Matters," are … Continue reading Writing advice from Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin once again proves why she is one of my favorite authors of all time by taking down Oregon's largest newspaper for their uncritical story of the occupation of public lands by armed militia. Read her epic letter to the editor here.
A roundup of interesting stuff to read about reading, featuring some of my favoritest writrs: All the critical backlash over Go Set a Watchman is missing the point on XOJane: I've got a copy and am ready to read it, but the Internet feeding frenzy really turned me off; I like to form my own opinions on … Continue reading Links for readers…
I keep a record of what I read in LibraryThing. I haven't recorded every book I've ever read, because I don't remember (boy, I wish I had started keeping a list at the age of 5 or something). But I have recorded almost 1,200 books, so I thought I'd take a look at my authors … Continue reading Most influential authors…
At some point, I set out to read a representative sample of all the "great" writers of science fiction, so I could feel reasonably well-educated in the genre. If you haven't read a lot of science fiction, I recommend this exercise. It provides a grounding so you can learn where the well-worn tropes originated and appreciate … Continue reading A survey of classic science fiction, with notes about diversity in sci-fi…
This is another entry in my ongoing series identifying common problems in self-published novels. As a writer, you've got a terrific idea for an alien planet, a fantasy world or a dystopian future. You've worked out all the details, and you just know that no other writer has come up with something this creative or … Continue reading Watch out, that writer’s taking an info-dump!
Here's just an excerpt from Le Guin's speech at the National Book Awards, but you should really go read the whole thing--it's short and completely inspiring: "I think hard times are coming when we will be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now and can see through our … Continue reading Wow, Ursula K. Le Guin gave a great speech at the National Book Awards…
