Category: Writing
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The Dune Shacks
Well, O’Neill was right about that: you’ll be alone and undisturbed except from the hardiest and most determined hikers. Getting to the ramshackle cabins that once sheltered some of the early 20th century’s literati (e.g., Mary Heaton Vorse, Eugene O’Neill, Harry Kemp, John Dos Passos) involves crossing a moonscape of shifting mountains of sand, stands of scrub pine,…
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IWR 2026
Just back from the Iceland Writers Retreat in Reykjavik. Always a great experience—indoors and outdoors. Readings and workshops, mixed with waterfalls, geysers, and periodic volcanic eruptions. And depending on luck and the time of year, puffins and the Northern Lights. I didn’t see the Aurora Borealis last week in Iceland, but it may be visible tonight in…
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Writing Contests and A.I.
This is part of an email note I got from someone who runs an annual writing contest in the U.S. “I’ve gotten numerous inquiries about AI detection as part of the prize process, so I thought I’d reach out to share what I did in order to dispel any concerns. Before starting this year’s prize,…
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Writer’s and their Friends
I read, The Plot, about a once successful novelist in need of another good story, which he finds in the dead hands of one of his MFA students. I read The Mystery Writer, about a young woman who falls into a murderous, hidden literary world while trying to finish her novel and uncover the reason behind her mentor’s…
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Scamming the Literary World
Really? Scamming starving writers in their drafty garrets? How much could a scammer possibly make? Apparently, enough to warrant the effort as suggested by some recent headlines and warnings: This last item happened to me earlier this year. Someone pretending to be a well-known writer contacted me through Facebook. I could not imagine why he/she…
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One More Platform
Back in February, I wrote a little blog post wondering how many websites/platforms an author needed today. The answer was, “Apparently, a lot.” So many that I forgot one. BookBub. Here it is. So now I have… eleven sites?