An amazing cast of characters makes Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell a chilling story. 16 year-old Ree Dolly must find her crank-cooking daddy for a court date, or she, her scrappy little brothers, and their blank-eyed mama will lose their home to the bail bondsmen and end up living in a cave in the Missouri Ozarks, or worse. Someone in her tight-lipped distant family, mostly addicts, alcoholics, … [Read more...]
Writer to Writer with Keith Hollihan, author of The Four Stages of Cruelty
Thrillers or mysteries typically don't interest me, and I admit I was initially squeamish about reading this novel, especially with the ominous title, The Four Stages of Cruelty. Debut author Keith Hollihan had sent me copies to make into clutch purses for Christmas gifts, which left me with the coverless text. When I learned it was named one of the Best Books of 2010 by Publisher’s Weekly, I … [Read more...]
Proper use of “I” and “Me” – Grammar Basics
The photo is of my parents and I at a backyard wedding. Does that sentence sound wrong? If you're not sure, how about this one: My in-laws joined my wife, our children and I for a big holiday dinner. They are both wrong. In these sentences, me should have been used for I. Correct: The photo is of my parents and me at a backyard wedding. Correct: My in-laws joined my wife, … [Read more...]
Writing from Experience? Beware
Do readers always assume that writers are always writing about themselves? It happens in poetry, but I didn't think it did with fiction, until I gave a public reading of an excerpt from my novel where a mother must explain to her two young children why their junkie father is in jail. (“Incarceration”). As I read, I noticed troubled expressions on several faces in my audience. Afterward, someone … [Read more...]
All these monstrous words: Jim Morrison
As a writer, try to imagine, after your death, someone in your family who's not a writer going through all your work, past and present, drafts, false starts, deleted files, scribblings-- all of it-- and publishing whatever they thought best represented you. Scary, isn't it? Pardoned at last Jim Morrison is in the news again. Governor Charlie Crist submitted his name to Florida’s … [Read more...]