Archive | November, 2009

Update

24 November 2009 · The writing process · Comments { 3 }

All is well, despite the silence. I’ve been putting all my energy into winning a short story contest. With a £25,000 prize and a star-studded judging panel, I’m expecting the competition to be fierce. To win, I think I’ll have to write something better than anything I’ve written before. The deadline is next Monday at [...]

Read full story · Comments { 3 }
Monday morning inspiration

Monday morning inspiration

9 November 2009 · Thinking · Comments { 1 }

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. – Maya Angelou

Read full story · Comments { 1 }

Borges marathon, part 1: The Cruel Redeemer Lazarus Morell

7 November 2009 · Reading · Comments { 0 }

So I had this great idea to write a separate review for every short story every written by the master of short stories (or short fictions as they’re often called, for reasons that will become apparent), Jorge Luis Borges. I’m not sure how great this great idea is, but I’ll get started anyway. I’m going [...]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

“Collected Fictions” by Jorge Luis Borges

5 November 2009 · Reading · Comments { 0 }

With this book, I have to admit defeat, or at least a change of plan. I wanted to review every book I read on this site, but I can’t review this. How to reduce the life work of one of the most brilliant writers of the 20th century to a single blog post? It can’t [...]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

“The Writer as Migrant” by Ha Jin

3 November 2009 · Reading · Comments { 0 }

These are three essays on the notion of migration for the writer, mostly explained through other writers such as Nabokov, Conrad, Kundera and Naipaul. In the first essay, The Spokesman & the Tribe, Jin explores the balance between the individual and the collective, and asks to what extent a writer can ‘speak for’ his nation [...]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }
Monday morning inspiration

Monday morning inspiration

2 November 2009 · Thinking · Comments { 1 }

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have [...]

Read full story · Comments { 1 }