Five Myths about Writers...

My friend Ferrett writes: Five Myths About Writers That Non-Writers Don't Get

• Hard Work Does Not Equal Talent.
• Talent Does Not Equal Success.
• A Talented Writer Does Not Produce Consistently Talented Works.
• Love Does Not Equal Quality. 
• We Are Not In Competition With Each Other.  

Important points, all of them.  Check out the article.

TEN RULES FOR WRITING FICTION

Ten rules for writing fiction

Get an accountant, abstain from sex and similes, cut, rewrite, then cut and rewrite again – if all else fails, pray. Inspired by Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing, we asked authors for their personal dos and don'ts...

part one
part two


About a year ago, a friend and I noticed a theme running through many New Yorker poems: With astounding frequency, they were about writing poetry. Can New Yorker Poets Write About Anything Besides Poetry?


On the passing of the great Lucille Clifton



the message of crazy horse
Lucille Clifton

i would sit in the center of the world,
the Black Hills hooped around me and
dream of my dancing horse. my wife

was Black Shawl who gave me the daughter
i called They Are Afraid Of Her.
i was afraid of nothing

except Black Buffalo Woman.
my love for her i wore
instead of feathers. i did not dance

i dreamed. i am dreaming now
across the worlds. my medicine is strong.
my medicine is strong in the Black basket
of these fingers. i come again through this

Black Buffalo woman. hear me;
the hoop of the world is breaking.
fire burns in the four directions.
the dreamers are running away from the hills.
i have seen it. i am crazy horse.