style and ornament

"To begin with, let me plead that you have been told of one or two things which Style is not; which have little or nothng to do with Style, though sometimes vulgarly mistaken for it. Style, for example, is not--can never be--extraneous Ornament. You remember, may be, the Persian lover whom I quoted to you out of Newman: how to convey his passion he sought a professional letter-writer and purchased a vocabulary charged with ornament, wherewith to attract the fair one as with a basket of jewels. Well, in this extraneous, professional, purchased ornamentation, you have something which Style is not: and if you here require a practical rule of me, I will present you with this: 'Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it --whole-heartedly--and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.'" --Arthur Quiller-Couch, On the Art of Writing

rosemary beach fall writers' conference

Just a reminder there's a month left to get signed up for our fabulous conference in the beautiful Panhandle. This four-day conference in beautiful Rosemary Beach, Fla., will provide opportunities for attendees to hone their writing skills, make professional contacts, and learn new ways to get their work published.

Each day includes general sessions, writing exercises, craft classes, evening readings and receptions.  Presenters and participants will read excerpts from their published works followed by group discussion, literary dialogue, and book signings.   Lynne Barrett, John Cottle, Miles DeMott, John Dufresne, Michael Hettich, Michael Lister, Leonard Nash, Anne Petty, Nina Romano, and Laura Lee Smith.

Registration fee: $300

Student rate: $200

One-Day Registration: $125

Conference details:  www.conferenceforwriters.com 

the funniest joke

. . . at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival: "I needed a password eight characters long so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." That was Nick Helm's entry. My favorite was Matt Kirshen's: "I was playing chess with my friend and he said, 'Let's make this interesting'. So we stopped playing chess." Here are the others. (thanks to Tristan in Dania Beach)

refinery lounge

 

Today's short story waiting to be written comes from a review I found on Google maps about a saloon in North Pole, Alaska. Here's the review/confession: "Refinery It was okay, nice dance floor. Changed some with the movement of the hiphip crowd to Xaviers, but some say for the better, I expect local cops are happy! Georgianne hard working. Not going there, long story, likely my errors, still not sure what I did, but it was in a bad time of my life, so never know, sober and 86ed? Working on old military issues I suspect? I can be opinionated, but I had issues with one of the bartenders, ancient history. Not taking the medication I was taking I think has helped some since then. Mike" 

mnemogenic

Martin Amis on Philip Larkin in the Financial Times. (Thanks to Dick in Irvine)

the triple agent

Tristan D. interviews Joby Warrick, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of The Triple Agent.

draft

Why does it say "draft" after the previous post? I have no idea. Part of the improvents in the new operating system. One that you can't remove and for which Squarespace has no apparent solution. And now I see that the previous post referred to does not show up on the blog--though It does on mine. Doe that make sense? 

whoops!

I had the new Mac operating system, Lion, I think, installed, and all the blog entries got screwed up. I've repaired one, but don't have the time to do more. So you'll see that damn memo pad everywhere you look. Sorry--just imagine the photo that was really supposed to be there. And it will not let me upload photos from iPhoto. At Apple regress is our most important product. 

reading lolita in atlanta

Meena's got one eye on Mom, Susan, and one on Nabokov. Meena's dad, Cully, will be bringing the whole family to Taos next summer, we hope.

leaving a trail of genius

I found this just now among my piles of little notepads. I had taken up Marriott's invitation to create, apparently. Entry 1: "crispate" crispate from Latin crispatus, past participle of crispare to curl, from crispus curly; crispated from Latin crispatus + English -ed: having a crisped appearance : irregularly curled or crinkled. Nice word that I don't think I've used yet. Entry 2: "describe the statue of L" I wondered why I wanted to do that and then remembered that in the novel I'm working on the Statue of Liberty walks into a bar: Just then the Statue of Liberty walked into the bar, shook the ash from his drape and gown, brushed a mantle of white ash from his shoulders, and stomped his feet. And so on. Entry 3: "depredate" Late Latin depraedatus, past participle of depraedari, from Latin de- + praedari to plunder --transitive verb : to lay waste : prey upon: plunder, pillage, despoil <depredating the surrounding countryside>intransitive verb : to make depredations. Look for this word in the novel. Something bad guys do. Entries 4 & 5: must have something to do with that evening in the bar with Statue of Liberty who is drinking Jack and Pepsi.  

henry bromell

Tristan D's newest podcast. He speaks withthe executive producer of the late, great AMC show Rubicon.

desoribed

My back has been killing me. Sitting too long on a miserable chair at my desk, slouching in my seat. My chiropractor's not returning my calls. So I bought a new chair at Office Max. While I was putting it together--actually while I was taking out the 1 1/4 inch bolts I erroneously installed (because I don't read drections) and screwing in the 1 inch bolts, I saw this tag on the bottom of the seat:

Then I looked up where my chair was made. Here's what I learned: Chang’an is located in the Pearl River estuary and in the South tip of Dongguan City, Guangdong Province. Chang’an has the title “place leaning on mountains and adjoining rivers with dragon (Shekou) on the left and tiger (Humen) on the right sitting on the lotus.” I feel better about my chair already. Chang'an holds these titles of honor: "Homeland of China's Folk Art," "Homeland of National Dragon-Lion Sports," "Homeland of National Juvenile Gymnastics," "Homeland of China's Handwriting," and "Model Town of Culture Construction of Dongguan."

rise of the planet of the monkeys

The boys are back in town. Now that they've found the lemon tree, we may not be able to get rid of them. 

an anatomy of addiction

Tristan D's new podcast. An interview with Howard Markel, acclaimed medical historian and author of a new book on cocaine and Drs. Freud and Halstead.

monkey business

I'm trying to write my novel and the monkeys are putting on a show.

man of letters

Tristan D. has a new podcast up, featuring Thaddeus Russell, author of A Renegade History of the United States. 

the last resort

"So this is a tale, first, of an enchanted childhood, then a murky drama of marriage and adultery, all played out against a background of bitter American struggle. I found it splendid in every way." FIU MFA grad and my good friend Norma Watkins got a rave from Carolyn See in the Washington Post.

say it ain't so, sam!

From Mollie in Dripping Springs comes the sad news that my favorite Austin barbecue joint is being closed. No more mutton on my trips to Austin! I hope the doors are not shut for good. 

amy winehouse 1983-2011

My story, "A Wild Night and a New Road," which will appear in the forthcoming anthology Blue Christmas, begins: "She drives home with her fake RayBans on and the radio blasting. Power 96! Amy Winehouse or someone like that." Amy Winehouse has been found dead. Terrible news. 

I don't ever wanna drink again
I just, ooh, I just need a friend
I'm not gonna spend ten weeks
Have everyone think I'm on the mend

And it's not just my pride
It's just 'til these tears have dried

how do peasants die?

From 101 years ago: Tolstoy on YouTube.