“The crack is in me,” I said heroically. Fitzgerald
The sign of first-rate intelligence
May 1, 2010 by
I have quoted from this essay for three decades – long before I embraced Zen paradox or understood about negative capability. I still subscribe to it – see boldfaced The Crack-Up By F. Scott Fitzgerald February, 1936 Of course all life is a process of breaking down, but the blows that do the dramatic side […]
Tim Cahill—Hold his enlightenment
May 1, 2010 by
Cahill’s first story broke my heart—Hold the Enlightenment. It poked fun at a sacred cow – – – wanting enlightenment and writing occasionally about it. Apparently, says Tim, all these guys are self-published and take themselves too seriously, even when they can write, and well, therefore, enlightenment is anathema to real writers like he—who don’t have to self-publish. I don’t exactly want to be enlightened, I decided. I like the old saw that I just be enlightened about my delusions—and not deluded about my enlightenment.But I guess that’s not funny. So forget I said it. For now.
Writing Hands Dancing Feet
May 1, 2010 by
I break the rule of milongas that says not to change your shoes at the table all the time. It’s because usually I enter the milonga in the middle of a tanda of music I love and can’t wait. Here I am strapping on shoes to dance with a performer in La Boca who invites […]
Small Presses are Bigger
April 29, 2010 by
Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of lunching with Lindy Hough, co-founder, editorial director of North Atlantic Books, Berekely, California
We talked all too briefly but urgently on books, writing, publishing, creativity . . . all the good stuff of life. North Atlantic is like my publisher—Seal Press—whom I’ve worked with for the past five years: dedicated to a certain type of book that wouldn’t get the treatment it deserves from the Big Fish.
Lindy knows a lot about shaping a manuscript and making a book coherent and easy to read. She’s worked with many authors over the many years North Atlantic has been publishing.
Trip #2 Todo Buenos Aires, Argentina
April 28, 2010 by
Trips #2, November 16 to 24, 2010 includes: • Eight nights in Dandi Royal, an exquisite tango-themed mansion in San Telmo barrio – near to everything. • Welcome luncheon (on Monday, November 16) at Dandi. • Eight breakfasts. • Three scrumptious dinners featuring typical Argentine cuisine (which, despite what you’ve heard is NOT all grass-fed […]
Buenos Aires, Tango, Gauchos
April 28, 2010 by
Here’s what’s included: • Five nights in Dandi Royal, an exquisite tango-themed mansion in San Telmo barrio – near to everything. • Three nights in an elegant “posada,” a country inn, in San Antonio d’Areco (less than 2 hours’ drive from Buenos Aires through the famous pampas). • Welcome luncheon (on Friday, November 5) at […]
Your writing instructor
April 8, 2010 by
About me . . . I bring to my workshops more than thirty years of experience in publishing as researcher, writer, editor, and instructor in a vast array of subject areas including essay, memoir, food, travel, fitness, health, mind/body/spirit, creative non-fiction, fiction, and more. My latest book, a travel memoir, TANGO, AN ARGENTINE LOVE STORY, […]
What participants say about Camille’s workshops
March 19, 2010 by
“Camille’s workshop was the perfect first sentence to begin the story of my quest to be a writer.” James Christopoulos, Chicago, IL USA “As a novice writer, I felt sincerely acknowledged as a woman who has a story worth telling. It was Camille’s words, “I want to hear more,” which moved me from ‘thinking about […]
Another Great Writing Workshop
March 19, 2010 by
We just finished up another great workshop here in Buenos Aires. As I told the four participants, Jim, Patricia, Susan, and Lisa, I could not have hand-picked a better mix of writers to work with en masse. We worked individually and in private, too. It was all so rewarding. Each of them inspired me in her/his own way. The writing themes were awesome.
Elizabeth Gilbert is Madonna and Julie Sweeney
February 25, 2010 by
I enjoyed Eat, Preay, Love. I did almost put it down, but then I got to eh part where the author begins to have crying jags over not wanting to get pregnant or to have children. I laughed out loud and thought, There’s nothing to it. Don’t get pregnant, don’t have kids, if you don’t want to. But without dramatic tension and deep conflict there is no story, in life and in literature. She wove that thread deftly.
Your writing instructor
February 19, 2010 by
My writing workshops are always designed to fit the needs of participants: I bring to my workshops more than thirty years of experience in publishing as researcher, writer, editor, and instructor in a vast array of subject areas including food, travel, essay, memoir, fitness, health, mind/body/spirit, creative non-fiction, fiction, and more. My work has appeared […]
Writing, editing, and publishing
October 24, 2009 by
Get help with all your writing/editing needs – features, stories, memoirs, essays, books, proposals, and more — non-fiction and fiction.
Protected: A Family Reunion in Sicily
September 18, 2007 by
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Savoring Patagonia
September 13, 2007 by
Dark peaks, many still cloaked in snow, rag the horizon. Besides the druid-like towers, a formation called the Cuernos del Paine rises above Lago Pehoé, one of many lakes we passed, whose waters seem to come in three shades—emerald, aquamarine, and sapphire. When the relentless wind blows, it’s a sight to see hundreds of frothy white caps stand up and dance on their rippling waters. wild hares browsing, and horses running loose from a nearby estancia. Milky Way achingly close. The sky is so dense with stars,
Virgin Vision
July 24, 2007 by
Virgin Vision (short story) – finalist in the 2005 Katherine Ann Porter fiction contest Virgin Vision Each morning, I left my home on Creek Street in the dark. I wanted to crown the Blessed Virgin Mary at the end of the month of May. I was competing against 100 sixth graders, so I would show […]
Plot Theory
July 24, 2007 by
Plot Theory, 3rd place winner in the annual Kurt Vonnegut fiction contest, appeared in the 2006 summer issue of the North American Review PLOT THEORY Plots only tend to exist. We cannot predict with 100 percent certainty where they will go, what they mean. The observer must always be taken into account. We are still […]
Tango, an Argentine Love Story Endorsements
July 22, 2007 by
TANGO: an Argentine Love Story is a “spicy travel memoir of a woman who loved, lost, got mad—and decided to dance.” “Tango is a remarkable addition to contemporary dharma literature. It reads like a thriller, a romance, and above all it shows the redemptive potential of a sincere spiritual practice.” —Sylvia Boorstein, PhD, author of […]
Kent Island, Washington Post
June 28, 2007 by
Washington Post – Kent Island (101 column) – original here. When the Going Gets Tough, Get Off Route 50 Spend some traffic-free time on Kent Island, Md. including Terrapin Beach. (Photos Courtesy Queen Annes County Office Of Tourism) Sunday, July 9, 2006 Next time you’re sweating it out in Chesapeake Bay Bridge traffic between the […]