Ello Novel Launched by Writer of First Twitter Novel In April of 2008, I began an experiment to write the first Twitter novel, “Small Places.” Now I’m fusing technology and literature in the first Ello novel, “So Long,” illustrated by New York artist Siyi Chen. I’m actually now in PHASE […]
Sure, She’s Inflatable, But Look At Those Eyes: Self-Publishing And Art
AFTER SELF-PUBLISHING MY FIRST NOVEL Stuck Outside of Phoenix in 2003, I spent some time online trying to find other self-published writers who wanted to form a community. I wasn’t looking for anyone trying to catch on to a genre trend, or those taking advantage of the brand new print-on-demand technology because they wanted to see […]
A Little Help From My Comrades: Reflections On My Experience In Writers Groups
I STARTED DAYDREAMING a couple of years ago about dialing down my advertising work and, eventually, writing fiction full-time. To have more success getting published I knew had to write with more rigor and intention. A writers group seemed a logical step. Kindred spirits. Constructive critique. Insights on craft. Positive peer pressure to stick with […]
Reflecting On The Reflection: A Personal Reaction To Student Experience And Writing
THE ASSIGNMENT WAS SIMPLE–a reflection about our seniors’ changing relationship with the Spanish major–which made for one of my best weeks as a teacher. Not necessarily because of my own classroom performance, but because of what the students’ writing revealed about their development. I spent a couple of days checking my computer every ten […]
The 185-Page Hipster Accessory
WHEN FRIENDS ASK TO READ the manuscript they’ve been hearing me talk about for so long, I find myself filling with white-hot shame. It’s wonderful they ask, but I’m certain they’re just being polite. “Are you sure?” I respond, implying they should seriously consider this for a few more weeks. But they always say yes. […]
Transmedia: Who Invited the Lobsters Anyway?
This is a screed (Google it you lazy so and so). This is not a glass half empty, whine from the nether regions. This is a glass done been drained empty by slant drilling moisture pirates manifesto. This is me warming up in the bullpen for a series of missives about missed opportunities and what […]
En Route To Fiction Writing
ADVERTISING, WHERE I COME FROM, is fast-paced, challenging and stimulating. Ad people tend to be infectious, out-there types with quick, fertile minds and eclectic interests. Everyone is constantly in motion, juggling multiple projects that involve different industries, target audiences and media, and is racing to meet the next tight deadline. Success depends on knowing and […]
The Art Of Resemblance In Nonfiction
When I walked into the apartment of memoirist Alan Kaufman in Lower Nob Hill around 2011, I noticed paintings covering his walls. I’d already read his nearly 500-page memoir, Drunken Angel. The book chronicles how he became a writer and drunk (and how he recovered from alcoholism). There was nothing about him being a painter. How could he […]
Writer Turf Wars
I RECEIVED AN EMAIL today from writer Nancy Edwards talking about me getting mentioned in a newspaper article. She’s a student at my Random Writers Workshop. The irony is she was my college English professor in the early 1990s. I always point this out. At a recent memoir event I blamed my last twenty years of […]
Caroline Leavitt: Why I Write Fiction
WHY DO I WRITE FICTION? Because I’d go mad if I didn’t. Fiction helps me understand the un-understandable. It helps me forgive the unforgivable. I get to be lost in a whole other world and as I learn the language and figure out the terrain, I heal the things that haunt and obsess me. And […]
Dealing With The Killing Squads
DURING THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE of 1915, one of the many ways a woman could die at the hands of the killing squads was by the game of swords. The killing squads were bands of ex-convicts, released from prison or recruited by the Ottoman government for the purpose of massacring Armenians. The game of swords involved […]
Changing Hands
ON A RECENT TRIP back to Phoenix, I went to Changing Hands Bookstore. I’d made a point to stop by every time I came to the area, to see the place and take in what are, for me, positive associations. I frequented the store when I started my time in the English program at Arizona […]
Latino In America, Part One: Immigration Reform
LAST YEAR MARKED a turning point for me as a Latino poet supporting comprehensive immigration reform. My increase in social activism was related to the increased need for solutions to America’s problem of over-deportation and significant roadblocks in paths to citizenship. I can’t blame any immigrant for seeking a better, honest life in America. I […]