Orchestrating capital C Christmas for two kids takes a lot of labor and attention, but throughout the wrapping, unwrapping, cooking, and cleaning, I’ve been distracted by the story “Adrian Brody” and by the reactions it’s provoked. Won’t you join me in my obsession? You can read the story here, at Muumuu House. I recommend you [...]
Archive for the ‘fiction’ Category
Christmas with Marie Calloway
Posted in fiction, memoir, writing process, tagged Alexander Maksik, Kate Zambreno, Marie Calloway, Memoir, Muumuu House, Roxane Gay, sex on December 27, 2011 | 33 Comments »
My History with Heroines
Posted in backpacking, CURRENCY, fiction, memory lane, solo women traveling, travel writing, tagged CURRENCY, Heroines, Little Women, Minor Characters, On the Road, SheWrites, solo women traveling, Women and Children First on October 3, 2010 | 5 Comments »
This past Thursday, at the invitation of SheWrites co-creator Deborah Siegel, I appeared at Women and Children First bookstore along with Teri Coyne, Audrey Niffenegger, Amina Gautier, and Emily Gray Tedrowe as part of a panel exploring modern-day heroines. I could diagram that sentence to show about twenty different sources of personal gratification: Women and [...]
My Dad: Veteran, Author, All-Round Great Guy
Posted in fiction, Uncategorized, writing process, tagged fiction, Korean War, Paul Zolbrod on August 14, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
It’s hard for me to write about my dad, Paul Zolbrod, in anything other than sentimental clichés: He’s been my life-long inspiration as a parent, a person, a thinker, a writer. A Native-American scholar for over forty years, he was made fun of, at first, for attempting a poetics of the oral tradition, but the [...]
Haven’t I Seen You Here Before?
Posted in backpacking, CURRENCY, fiction, memory lane, solo women traveling, Thailand, writing process, tagged backpacking, fiction Currency, memory lane, solo women traveling, Thailand, writing process on June 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
(I posted this missive last week on The Nervous Breakdown last week, so if you read it there, skip this. If you haven’t heard of The Nervous Breakdown and you like to read short nonfiction on screen, you should totally check out the site. ) Getting ready for my recent trip to L.A., I told [...]
Review Round-Up
Posted in CURRENCY, fiction, travel writing, writing process, tagged CURRENCY, fiction, reviews, travel writing, writing process on June 21, 2010 | 9 Comments »
Well, Currency‘s been officially out for a little over six weeks now. I’ve read from it maybe a dozen times in a half-dozen different towns. I’ve gotten some reviews and done some interviews. I’ve been absolutely drunk on the kindness and enthusiasm of friends and acquaintances, and, despite attempts to keep my focus on my [...]
Cross-Cultural Couplings
Posted in CURRENCY, fiction, Thailand, travel, tagged CURRENCY, fiction, Thailand, travel on May 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
First off, let me say that Currency officially hits the streets right about now. Dear visitor, I beg you not to judge this book on the absence of a dedicated web site. It is a hundred times better than its web presence, and although there’s little excuse for that in this day and age, isn’t [...]
My Great Editor, Interviewed
Posted in CURRENCY, fiction, writing process, tagged CURRENCY, fiction, writing process on May 8, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Now that CURRENCY has been published, a number of people are asking me tactful versions of the question How come this took so long? and Why with a small press? In this excerpt from an interview with Leah Tallen, Other Voices editor Gina Frangello explains better than I ever could. You can see the full [...]
CURRENCY’s first review
Posted in CURRENCY, fiction, Uncategorized, tagged Chicago Reader, CURRENCY on May 1, 2010 | 1 Comment »
It’s a crazy-ass thing to want to publish a book. The work it takes. The struggling to figure it out, to process the criticism, to make it better, make it better, make it better yet after the umpteenth person has said “not quite right for us” or just “not quite.” And then if you’re lucky [...]
Smoking: A Dream Come True
Posted in CURRENCY, fiction, memory lane, Parenting, writing process, tagged CURRENCY, memory lane, Parenting, The Hideout on March 30, 2010 | 4 Comments »
It’s settled: The release party for CURRENCY is going to be at The Hideout on May 16, from 5:00-7:00. A string of exclamation marks cannot express how unduly happy I am. During the last few months, it’s seemed that the securing of this particular venue has had about as many ups and downs as my [...]
Books: Revisiting the Golden Triangle
Posted in fiction, tagged fiction, Thailand, travel on March 22, 2010 | 4 Comments »
In terms of my ever-lengthening life, I didn’t spend much time in Southeast Asia. Not much time in Thailand, not much time in Vietnam, barely any time in Laos. And the time I spent there was so long ago. But once I returned, I had such a craving for those places, such an urge to [...]
