Submissions: My Worst Submissions Story Yet or the Peril of Simultaneous Submissions
Since I'm always waxing about how to get the submissions process done right, I thought I'd share, for a change, the story of my own worst mishap. In February of 2010, I received that email that ordinarily would make my heart sing: The Gettysburg Review, one of the best literary magazines in this country, had finally accepted an essay of [...]
Fall Recipe: Zwetschgendatschi (Prune Plum Sheet Cake)
I don't plan to turn this into a cooking blog, but in my September 27 post I promised the recipe for this tongue breaker of a cake: Zwetschgendatschi (click here for pronunciation) is one of the things that means fall to me. Plus I have no compunction about including recipes in my writing, so why not my blog? First I'm [...]
My Fall List: Things to Do in Fall
Given that I have a list for making sure I "have a summer," it's only fair to have one for fall, after all fall is my favorite season. Here's what's on my list of things to do to savor the season of crunchy leaves, colorful fruit, and crisp air: Bake Zwetschgendatschi (prune plum cake, recipe will follow in future [...]
9/11 Tribute: Portraits of Grief
Remember the "Portraits of Grief" the New York Times published in the months after 9/11? The little stories about the individuals who perished that day that the NYT staffers put together after interviewing family members? For me, there is no better tribute to 9/11 than reading those brief portraits, collected in the big coffee table book Portraits: 9/11/01. We don't [...]
Writing Exercise: Color List – Red
September is the month of lushness - all the fruits and vegetables are ripe and deep in color. So this month's color is the most forceful of colors: red. For the uninitiated, the idea here is to come up with ways to evoke red without mentioning the color itself because one of the challenges in writing effective descriptions is [...]
The Strange Obligation to “Having a Summer”
Labor Day marks the "official" end of summer, and thus it's time to ask whether one has made the most of the season of heat, beach and long, supposedly lazy days. When I first moved to the U.S. and people started asking me: "Are you having a nice summer? I was puzzled by the question. How do you have [...]