How to write faster.

Hunched over my keyboard, I'm haunted by anecdotes of faster writers. Christopher Hitchens composing a Slate column in 20 minutes—after a chemo session, after a "full" dinner party, late on a Sunday night. The infamously productive Trollope, who used customized paper! "He had a note pad that had been indexed to indicate intervals of 250 words," William F. Buckley told the Paris Review. "He would force himself to write 250 words per 15 minutes. Now, if at the end of 15 minutes he hadn't reached one of those little marks on his page, he would write faster." Buckley himself was a legend of speed—writing a complete book review in crosstown cabs and the like.[more ...] Continue reading at 'Slate'

[ Slate | 2011-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #dinner party #sunday night #paris review

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Writing the Historical Mystery Novel: Jane Smiley Explains Her Process

Jane Smiley is a master of plot, with multiple awards for her novels, including the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle award for A Thousand Acres (King Lear as set on an Iowa farm circa 1979). She’s also distilled her years of teaching and cultural criticism into a superb writing... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-12-06 09:53:58 UTC ]
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Ada Calhoun and Maud Newton on the Revelations We Gain From Writing

The Miami Book Fair began as a two-day event in November 1984, when a small group of determined individuals—including educators from Miami Dade College, independent booksellers, and librarians—founded Miami Book Fair International. In the nearly 40 years since, Miami Book Fair has grown into one... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-22 09:51:48 UTC ]
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How Jane Austen Almost Walked Away From Writing

If you’re a literary genius, you’ve got it easy—right? Wrong. Even Jane Austen, indisputably one of the greatest novelists in the English language, spent years struggling to be published and became so dispirited that there were moments when she almost walked away. The story begins with an... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-18 09:54:04 UTC ]
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Choosing to Bear Witness: Writing the Story of a Body

My clearest memory of my freshman year of college takes place in the emergency room of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where I was studying English Literature at Boston University and living on the eighteenth floor of Warren Towers, in Tower C, in a room with southern exposure. Despite... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-17 09:53:52 UTC ]
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How ‘Dead Souls’ Taught Mel Brooks What Comedy Writing Could Be

“I’d never read anything like it,” says the actor and director, whose memoir “All About Me!” is newly out in paperback. “It was hysterically funny and incredibly moving at the same time. It’s like Gogol stuck a pen in his heart, and it didn’t even go through his mind on its way to the page.” Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2022-11-10 10:00:12 UTC ]
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[ Literrary Hub | 2022-10-28 08:57:23 UTC ]
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Mary Karr on Navigating Memory While Writing Memoir

The following is an excerpt from Joy Harjo’s The Art of Memoir and appeared in Lit Hub’s The Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. * At unexpected points in life, everyone gets waylaid by the colossal force of recollection. One minute you’re a grown-ass woman, then a whiff of cumin conjures... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-10-21 08:53:59 UTC ]
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Why Lydia Millet writes about what frightens her most

Lydia Millet, author of 'A Children's Bible,' joins the L.A. Times Book Club to discuss her new novel, 'Dinosaurs.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-10-10 13:00:58 UTC ]
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Jada Pinkett Smith writing memoir about life, 'complicated marriage to Will Smith'

Jada Pinkett Smith's memoir will take readers on 'a rollercoaster ride from the depths of suicidal depression to the heights of personal rediscovery.' Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-10-06 19:59:48 UTC ]
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Al Pacino is reportedly writing his first memoir.

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[ Literrary Hub | 2022-10-05 14:49:52 UTC ]
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She Writes Press and SparkPress: Hybrids That Lead by Example

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-09-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Rabih Alameddine on Only Writing When You Have Something to Say

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[ Literrary Hub | 2022-09-09 08:53:14 UTC ]
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[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-29 08:52:14 UTC ]
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[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-26 15:37:43 UTC ]
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[ The New York Times | 2022-08-25 09:00:11 UTC ]
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[ The Paris Review | 2022-08-22 15:42:39 UTC ]
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The proposed merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster could lead to fewer voices — including marginalized voices — being published. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2022-08-18 10:09:48 UTC ]
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[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-12 08:52:32 UTC ]
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[ Literrary Hub | 2022-08-08 14:41:32 UTC ]
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