Solace in a Book

Much I don’t about Franzen

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I give up.  I spent the past few days trying to write a blog that was witty and timely. I wanted it to be smart like an essay by Roxane Gay. I hoped to get my thoughts together about the fuss over “Jonathan Franzen: What’s Wrong With the Modern World,” which appeared in The Guardian on Friday, September 13.  The piece named names (Jennifer Weiner, Salman Rushdie, Jeff Bezos) and was as juicy as a reality TV show, with responses by Jennifer Weiner and Nathan … [Read more...]

Benefits of membership: The Writers

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Writing is known to be a solitary profession. For the most part the writer has to be alone. But when it comes to critiquing your work and revising it, the voice in your head isn't always right. That's when it is particularly useful to have another's opinion, especially if this other person is a serious writer too. Then once you have a finished work and you have it published or an opportunity to read it, once again, it's nice to have other writers you can count on to be your … [Read more...]

I Google my name

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I Google my name and come up with yours--the exact reverse. I think what if we went to school together, what confusion there’d be at roll call. Ellen, Wade. Wade, Ellen.   But you’re older, a ‘51 baby, a country boy from Rocky Mount, North Carolina. And you’re dead, killed in action in 1972, when the chopper you’re co-piloting on a rescue mission is hit by enemy fire and crashes into a small island on the Dak Poko … [Read more...]