http://www.oakestown.org Oakestown Tue, 24 Aug 2010 03:47:01 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Still in the phlegmy hell stage of this cold, but a train of thought this morning deserves a bit of meditation. Recently, a friend who is a writer did a really nice thing for me, and it made me realize that writers being nice to one another is often a ... http://www.oakestown.org/?p=506 Never get smug about the fact that you never get sick. That's the lesson I'm learning this chilly August. Before this virus arrived, it had been nearly three years since I'd gotten a flu or cold, but now I'm a snotty mess, wondering how much longer I'll be wandering around ... http://www.oakestown.org/?p=504 If I ever finish this meme, it'll be in chunks. Chunk 3 ahoy. Day #8: Your favorite comedy Generally I prefer the tragedies and histories to the comedies. Shakespeare was funny, but the problem is that the humor is often played so broadly and physically that the language gets lost. I ... http://www.oakestown.org/?p=500 My essay on Dorothy Day, radical socialist/anarchist, single mother, writer, and founder of the Catholic Worker movement, just went up today at The Fanzine. If you're interested in what I may or may not be writing about in the book I'm working on, this might give you a few clues. Thanks ... http://www.oakestown.org/?p=494 The next clump of questions all overlap, so let's just answer them in one fell swoop. Day #2: Your favorite character Confusing wording here: "favorite character" vs. "favorite hero/villain/etc"? Anyway, I suppose by "character" you mean someone not heroic or villainous, so I guess I will go with Richard II. He's rather ... http://www.oakestown.org/?p=492 For a big chunk of the month thus far, I was on a silent retreat, meditating, writing, reading, walking, and eating a lot. I was gone when the Mesherle verdict came down, which may be a good thing; although my hometown didn't burn, it did smolder a little. Dread the ... http://www.oakestown.org/?p=489 Had a dream that I was on a plane full of famous writers and the pilot kept making announcements about their accomplishments: "Colson Whitehead's on this flight, and he's got a MacArthur Genius Grant! Jhumpa Lahiri over there has a Pulitzer and she's HOT... Richard Ford's got a Pulitzer too... ... http://www.oakestown.org/?p=484 Essentially, there are two kinds of writing one can do in this lifetime: writing that's destined for publication, and writing that may wind up in limbo. These days, the former is becoming less and less probable for most of us. It is harder than ever to get published in magazines, ... http://www.oakestown.org/?p=482 Borrowed from the internet in general and several people I know, a book meme. 1) What author do you own the most books by? Dunno; John Ashbery, maybe. Though I stopped buying new books by him after Girls on the Run. 2) What book do you own the most copies of? Shakespeare, ... http://www.oakestown.org/?p=478 Had a good time at the very, very hot (I mean literally -- 90+ degrees in Oakland yesterday) East Bay on the Brain reading last night with my buddy Sam Hurwitt and a host of other readers. Kudos to Lauren for getting a successful reading series together. I ran one ... http://www.oakestown.org/?p=476