Writerland Archives - Page 10 of 15

A Perfect Eulogy

My friend Shanthi Sekaran, author of The Prayer Room, calls this piece Imperfect Eulogy. I disagree. I think it’s perfect. This piece was first published on Zyzzyva’s blog and is dedicated to Elmer Morrissey.

April 14, 2012. On the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s collision with an iceberg, the eight crew members of the Low […]

Ben Fountain: Author Interview

Today I had the pleasure to meet Ben Fountain, who came to lunch at the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto. Ben’s first novel, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, debuted this month. His short story collection, Brief Encounters with Che Guevara, won a PEN/Hemingway award, a Barnes & Noble Discover Award for Fiction, a Whiting Writers […]

Why You Shouldn’t Give a $#!% about Fashion Models

As many of you know, I am in the final throes of revising a memoir about the modeling industry. So every now and then I sneak a post about fashion between all my posts about writing and publishing and social media. And this is one such post.

One thing I have to thank the modeling […]

Hemingway and I: So Different and Yet So … Different

There are some obvious ways in which Hemingway and I differ:

He was male; I’m female He’s dead; I’m alive He was one of the greatest writers who ever lived; I’m a writer.

But then there are some not-so-obvious ways in which we differ, too, and I discovered those while reading The Paris Wife by […]

Should You Hire A Social Media Coach?

I teach social media and blogging classes here at the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto. In these classes, I explain to writers how to write a great blog post, how to market their services through their blog, Facebook and Twitter, how to create a community of enthusiastic fans of their work, and how to manage their […]

When Should We Limit Literary License?

An interesting discussion took place over lunch here at the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto last week. The topic: literary license. The talk was sparked by The Lifespan of a Fact, a book co-authored by essayist John D’Agata, who teaches at the University of Iowa, and his former fact checker, Jim Fingal, that was published by […]

8 Secrets to a Successful Writers’ Group

Writers’ groups, also called critique groups, can be invaluable resources for writers. They provide the structure and support of an MFA workshop without the high cost of tuition. But not all writer’s groups are equal. Get in the wrong group, and you may do more harm to your writing than good. How do you know […]

5 Tips For Hiring The Right Freelance Editor

As a freelance editor and someone who has hired several freelance editors, I wanted to give my two cents about if/when/how you need to hire an editor. Anne Allen wrote a wonderful post about this topic Sunday as well. Be sure to check it out when you’re done reading this:

1. Do I need a […]

Does Publicity Sell Books? The Debate Continues

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post titled “If Publicity Doesn’t Sell Books, What Does?” in which numerous published authors offered insider tips on how they publicized and marketed theirs books, and numerous writers responded. This week, Paul J. Krupin, a publicist who blogs at Direct Contact PR, offers his perspective on the publicity debate. […]

Earthquake Preparedness: Are You Ready for The Big One?

In light of this week’s 4.0 earthquake here in the Bay Area, which gave my house in Berkeley a good shake, I want to talk about disaster preparedness this week. I’m no expert, but I have taken a community emergency response team class through a local fire department, and I do have two disaster bins […]

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