Air and Rice
June 1, 2010
Air and Rice
I took a week away from the computer and it was very restful. I’m trying to work out ways to focus more on my writing, less on anxiety and the quotidian, and staying offline was a definite help. During my week away I read several books, including Anchee Min’s Pearl of China. The book is […]
READ MOREMay 24, 2010
The Copy-Editor’s Revenge
After writing in here about my editing woes, I thought I’d give Shakespeare’s copy editor, channeled here by Rowan Atkinson, a chance to reply:
READ MOREMay 24, 2010
Hardball-Coming July 31 in Paperback
Hardball, which was one of 2009’s five “most mesmerizing mysteries,” according to National Public Radio, will be out in paper on July 31.
READ MOREMay 21, 2010
As Granny used to say…
A friend of mine wrote recently, and said, “‘It’s a great life, if you don’t weaken,’ as my grandmother used to say.” The images that conjured up were somewhat terrifying, but it reminded me of my own grandmother, who was definitely a low-comfort woman. If you complained about–anything, she’d say, “From the day of your […]
READ MOREMay 10, 2010
Towards a theory of writing
Thank you all for your good wishes on my previous post. I’m back from a marathon weekend in Massachusettswith my independent editor. We worked until two every morning going through the manuscript for Body Work, and all the flaws in it are now strictly of my own production. While I was going through the text line […]
READ MOREMay 6, 2010
Potholes in the Road
I’ve been bumping through a few potholes lately, which is why my posts are sporadic. Minor ones–my husband was pickpocketed as he got off a commuter train in downtown Chicago. A professional band of thieves–they had his credit card numbers distributed throughout the country within minutes–we got reports of charges as far away as Orlando, […]
READ MOREApril 25, 2010
Riding Along
Last night I did something I should have done 20 years ago: went for a ridealong with the Chicago Police Department. V I Warshawski has a prickly relationship with cops, but intense loyalty to her police officer father, Tony. The Chicago police have been uniformly generous in their response to my work, even when it […]
READ MOREApril 22, 2010
Art, 2, Market, Zero
When the Pulitzer Prizes were announced last week, there were two wonderful surprises. The Prize in Editorial cartooning went to San Francisco’s Mark Fiore, and the Prize in Fiction went to Tinkers, by Paul Harding, published by Bellevue Literary Press, a tiny press in California. I’ve been watching Fiore’s animated cartoons for three years now. […]
READ MOREApril 8, 2010
Reeling and Writhing
Tony Kushner was speaking on the University of Chicago campus the other night. He’s a very animated speaker, interesting to listen to, and incredibly thoughtful. The University theater is staging his play, Illusion, in a truly riveting production. In between listening awestruck as he delved into Shakespeare and Brecht and why universities should not offer […]
READ MOREMarch 26, 2010
And the Winner Is…
I turned in my manuscript, I went to Crimea, I had my tooth implant–but I haven’t forgotten the Book Title Contest. First, the bad news. My editors preferred Body Work, but I don’t get a walk-on role. Or maybe V I, my Avatar, is doing it for me. Now the good news. There were two […]
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