Melodie wrote me to tell me that she’s not able to make her deadline today (her reasons were good ones), and asked me to select a past column for our readers. This post first appeared on July 24, 2007, and is still one of my favorites. —JLW SUSPICIOUS MIND by Melodie Johnson Howe I was […]

ON BECOMING ILLITERATE by Rob Lopresti I want to talk about something you probably know, but don’t think much about. The person you read about in these pieces is not the person writing them. Not exactly. Everybody who puts themselves out in front of the public creates a persona, if you will. Putting it another […]

RUNNING FOR THE MONEY by Steven Steinbock When I was a lad in high school, there was this girl I liked. Back then there were a lot of girls I liked. But this one was especially cute. One time when I was dropping her off at her apartment—or maybe I was picking her up, although […]

CRIMINAL ELEMENT by Leigh Lundin When Terrie Moran introduced readers to Criminal Element some weeks back, I harbored the suspicion secret dark depths lay beneath the surface of this felonious theme park. Thus I asked our good friend Terrie to give CB readers a crime-ridden tour, treading the dark alleyways, sidestepping the blood and slime, […]

I’m giving up my Saturday slot today so we can include a guest column by my friend Fran Rizer, who joins Leigh and me in the current issue of the online magazine Pages of Stories. As you might already know, Fran is the South Carolina author of the delightful Callie Parrish mysteries, and (thank goodness) […]

CUT IT OUT by Melodie Johnson Howe I am in the middle of teaching at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, so this will be a short column. My workshop is on “editing your novel or writing is rewriting.” The writers read five pages of their manuscripts aloud and the others critique it; then I give […]

WEEKDAY UPDATE by James Lincoln Warren In the last few months, I’ve promised to keep the Gentle Reader informed regarding my progress in a few ventures, not because I think that any of you are particularly obsessed with my life, but because the progress of those ventures may be of some small assistance to others […]