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An editor’s perspective on writing
I went to a brown bag lunch the other day, and it was led by Colin Harrison, the Vice President and Editor-in-Chief at Scribner. Before joining Scribner, he was the deputy editor for Harper’s Magazine. He’s an accomplished novelist but edits mostly nonfiction because he enjoys the challenge, the journey that he takes with the…
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Letters to myself
A week before graduation (wow, six months ago?), a creative writing professor asked us to write letters to send to ourselves. I’d gotten mine in September, and it’s taped to the wall, right above my writing desk. Whenever I hit a writer’s block, I look up from my computer screen and stare at this letter.…
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Fleeting Thoughts: A Spark
Many New Yorkers seem to have resting bitch faces. I see people wearing their masks while riding on the subway and walking down the street. It looks like they’re dead inside. And I’ve been closing myself off, too, when I go back to my Brooklyn apartment alone, when men on the street—with seemingly no other place to…
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Add to your ‘list of things to do immediately’: Attend a Too Many Zooz performance
Leo P. knows how to move. That was one thing I noticed at last Saturday’s Too Many Zooz concert at SOB’s on Varick Street. It’s not the most important detail, but it might be one that can explain Too Many Zooz’ rising popularity.
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College and Change
I loved my college experience, and don’t regret much, but there are still a few things that I wish I’d known from the beginning.
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“And you, you ridiculous people, you expect me to help you.”
We say we’ll do something, then we never do it. I always say that I’ll read more short stories that’s been published in journals and collections, but I haven’t picked up a full collection since reading The Paris Review‘s “Object Lessons.” En route to my tap dance class yesterday night, I stopped by Greenlight Bookstore, a Brooklyn…
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In search of a writing community
I don’t want writing to prevent me from meeting people; I decided that writing should help me meet people.
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Tuesday dance classes
Before graduation, my creative writing professor said that people who go into publishing rarely succeed in becoming writers. Not that they don’t have talent, but because they’re so busy nurturing someone else’s writing that they forget about their own. My professor told me I should not waste my talent. After that, he said I should…
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A bit lonely here
I know how to be alone. As a third grader battling crippling shyness, I’d usually sink into a bean bag chair during recess time and read while my classmates played kickball outside. I felt somewhat safer being by myself; I lived on a separate and imagined plane, where there was no noise but the sound…
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Subway stories
I felt and saw everything that I’d normally tune out if I was in a familiar setting: personal spaces being invaded; rap music blaring from Beats—so loud that its bass causes your arms’ hairs to tingle; seated people staring at crotches and asses of standing people; and inevitable leers from gross individuals.
Loan Le 