I recently learned that the Japanese have a word—“tsundoku”—for the habit of buying reading material and letting it pile up. I love that someone named this phenomenon. I adore my baskets of magazines, shelves of books, and nightstand pile. Until now, my word for this has been “decorating.” Every new book in my hands is a new chance to learn…
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Pro Tips for Shopping a Used Book Fair
A Brief Defense of Using a Thesaurus
You may not even know that the humble thesaurus comes under attack, but it does. The topic arose this week when a writer tweeted a question asking other writers how they feel about using a thesaurus. Almost everyone who responded said they were down with them and why. But someone reminded me who it was who’d stirred up some trouble…
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Some of My Favorite Essays from Brevity Magazine
The single resource I’ve used the most in my writing classes might be Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction. The site is jam-packed with short nonfiction pieces and craft essays that are quick to read as well as fun, moving, and instructional. Editor-in-chief Dinty W. Moore is someone you might want to follow on social (he’s a great source…
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Don’t Know What to Write About? Choose Something Mundane
Some writers are never at a loss over what to write about, and some find themselves frequently stuck in the unpleasantness that comes from a blank page and no writing ideas. This is why so many of my students ask me for writing prompts. If you find yourself stuck, with no writing prompt in sight, I suggest you lower the…
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Lessons from Julia Otsuka’s When the Emperor was Divine
I’m a slow reader. I sometimes pluck a book from the shelf based not on whether its subject matter appeals to me, but whether or not it’s skinny or fat. So when I recently read Julia Otsaka’s 144-page When the Emperor Was Divine, I got the pleasure of not only finishing a book in a weekend, but also got a mini-course…
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