Hi, WriteByNighter, I want to start with a thank you to all of you who not only read last week's message but took the time to express well wishes. And to tell me your own injury anecdotes! Some of them even goofier than mine, others downright horrifying. I didn't write the following day, if you're curious. But! On Sunday I wrote four pages. It felt weird. Clumsy/AWK. But it was great to dust off the... dust. The dusty, dusty dust. I took an approach offered by WriteByNighter Marlenée, who wrote, "Think of your characters like old friends you haven't seen in awhile and you're meeting them for a coffee. The
first 20 minutes will be awkward small talk, but then you will warm up and have more to say to each other." Has it been awhile since you last got coffee with your old friends? If so, maybe it's time to catch up. I'm sure they miss
you. This week's question: What's your desert island book? And why? I chanced upon an old episode of the podcast where we talk about what book we'd want with us if stranded on a desert island. A classic question, sure. One you've no doubt answered. But have you told me? It's instinct to
read that question as synoymous with "What's your favorite book?" But should it be? My favorite books are, naturally, the ones I know the best. Do I really want The Coast of Chicago or Jazz to be my only island companions when I already know them nearly by heart? Then again, do you really want to
choose something you've never read? What if you pick War and Peace based on its length and reputation and then, stranded forever(?) on your island, you despise it? My original conception was some sort of giant Norton-style book of short stories. The variety, the volume. But somewhere mid-episode, I changed my mind and went with something in the middle, something familiar but not likely to be memorizable; something offering the variety and the volume. Don Quixote. I've read it only once. I loved it. Stories within the story; styles within the style. Familiarity may breed contempt, but good luck becoming that familiar with the entirety of such a book. What's your desert island book? And more importantly, why?! I'll run some favorites in the next email. April Promotion: Spring Cleaning What better time to clean up your pages? Throughout April, enjoy 10 percent off an edit and/or proofread of your manuscript, short or long. With a line edit, our crack team will address usage, grammar, flow, and clarity, and offer suggestions for improving the overall effectiveness. Then our eagle-eyed proofreaders will comb through your pages for
typos, spelling/punctuation mistakes, and formatting glitches. Whether it's 10 sample pages or your entire 10-book series, WriteByNight will ensure you're putting out your cleanest work. WriteByNighter of the Week: Dixie Frantz We at WBN are very pleased to report that Dixie Frantz's debut, A Joyful Embrace, is now available! It's an open and heartfelt memoir about Dixie's daughter, Mimi, afflicted with cerebral palsy, and Dixie's "struggle to help Mimi achieve her fullest potential." Mimi passed away far too soon, but Dixie learns lasting lessons on "the importance of empathy and the value of life." Dixie worked with five WBN coaches and consultants, from a critique of the book to an
edit/proof to other pre-publication assistance. Congratulations, Dixie! We look eagerly forward to Book 2. (No pressure.) WBN Coaches' Corner: Tariq Shah Early in the pandemic I struggled to get my footing in anything book-length. I even tried old favorites: Morrison; Vonnegut; Dybek. Then I heard about, and ordered, a novella titled Whiteout Conditions by a writer named Tariq Shah. Its reviews seemed to fit the times, and my mood: "grim and [...] viscerally upsetting"; "brutal, cold and
haunting." I ordered it, opened the package, sat right down, and read it cover to cover. It was exactly what I needed at the time. A few months later I advertised for new WBN coaches. When I saw Tariq's name in my inbox, I pounced to open that email. Since then, Tariq has been one of our most stalwart coaches. Not only has he worked with -- to great acclaim -- prose writers and poets, but he was kind enough to set aside the potential awkwardness of doing a consult on some of my own work. So I'm in a rare position to offer input on one of our coaches as both WBN co-founder and anxious writer. I found Tariq's feedback invaluable and our session comfortable and... fun. It was just lots of fun. Are you ready to work with
Tariq on your fiction, nonfic, or poetry?
Yak Babies: Bookstores & More
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What Am I Writing? What Am I Reading? So yeah, I wrote four pages. That's now four pages in the past [checks watch] two months. But hey, as I talked about last week, I have a (somewhat) valid excuse. I read Bernie Sanders's It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism. I so wanted to like it. Then I just so wanted it to be over. I have complaints about this book's approach, execution, and... existence, I guess. He's right about everything; I just wish he'd've taken a different path. When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen. Gosh I wanted to like this one, too. Even more than the Sanders. It had so
much potential. But maybe it'll hit you right? It's definitely worth a shot. Magda Szabó was a lovely writer. Katalin Street maybe didn't grab me as much as The Door, but that's a high standard to meet. They are both excellent novels and I'll read more of her. After watching the Spoiler Alert movie (97 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes!) I
reread the book. As expected, I laughed & cried. Yet again. Now I'm
rereading Beloved, for Yak Babies. This is my fourth or fifth reading and it just keeps getting... it's weird to say better for such a brutal novel. But yeah. Not a single word of that book is out of place. What are you writing? What are you reading? Writerly Quote of the Week "Throw down, make a mess, and see what happens." -- WBN writing coach Tom Andes (because why not throw it out there one last time?) (And also because I've run out of gas.) David Duhr Co-founder, WriteByNight
P.S. If you know someone who might benefit from today's message, please feel free to forward this email along. Go on, help a writer out. Resources Find a home for your creative work Carve out writing time from your busy
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