An interviewer, Steve Winn, asked Tom Wolfe what did he find different about writing fiction vs. non-fiction, as Tom Wolfe, who began his career as a journalist, is a master of both. At first Wolfe said, there was little difference for him as a writer. Then he added, that as a writer of non-fiction, “you can’t pull punches,” meaning you have to be brutally honest.

This book is a fast-paced read. I recommend Hamilton’s memoir to those reviewers who seem to not like memoirs that are too revealing about the author

We discovered how Karr could break rules—going off-story and on tangents but that she did it so well, as one reviewer put it, “her narrative meanders through tangents that sometimes more entertaining than the point she’s getting to.” We also admired Karr’s “time management.” Again, borrowing from another reviewer: “schoolyard rape gets little more than a footnote. Karr faces it down as she does cancer, madness, alcoholism and a vicious dog—with humor and a scrappy genius for survival.”

Then be prepared for editors with notions, who often know less than you, write less than you, but who are totally necessary and worthy of being listened to. You want to learn to dialogue, to discourse with your writing, so you will have to answer what seem like silly questions about your meaning and intent. And over explain things.

Blood Shadow Entered in NPR three-minute fiction contest. Rules included the word count had to be 600 words or less and about a president. I’m a pitbull on the pantleg of popportunity. George holds off to the perimeter, sharpening his diction. “It’s a remarkable piece of equipment,” Karl says brightly. His eyes glance off Colin […]

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole My rating: 5 of 5 stars The reader either gets this author or is bored to a DNF (did not finish). I re-read this book every few years. What I love is the character Reilly, the way Toole captures the culture and times of the 1960s like […]

Solar Light, Lunar Light: Perspectives in Human Consciousness by Howard Teich My rating: 5 of 5 stars Howard Teich’s groundbreaking new book, SOLAR LIGHT, LUNAR LIGHT, Perspectives in Human Consciousness, courageously challenges the cherished assumption that masculine and feminine traits represent opposing forces. In fact, Dr. Teich shows how that entrenched belief has led to […]

The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall My rating: 5 of 5 stars I read this book at about age 11 or 12 and it helped shape my understanding and attraction to society’s outcasts. Perhaps it urged me always to think outside the box and to live most of my life in unconventional, but personally shaped, […]