My book contract says that I’m to deliver my book manuscript “in conformity with the provisions in ‘The Chicago Manual of Style.’” That means that, at long last, I’m finally going head-to-head with the serial comma. Read more.
writing tips
Armistead Maupin: The Man Who Wrote the Quintessential San Francisco Novel — On a Newspaper Deadline
Army’s assignment was to show up at the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle every weekday morning and produce seven hundred words, give or take. The challenging part was this: Unlike most newspaper journalists, Army did not sit down to his Selectric typewriter fortified with a fat notebook of stats and quotes. Army’s job was not to report the news. It was to make it up. Read more.
Gary Kamiya — A Fun Guy Sings a Love Song to San Francisco
Due to a common writing misstep, Gary Kamiya, a highly experienced writer and editor, found himself with only six months to write a 385-page book. The San Francisco author and co-founder of Salon.com described his predicament recently to a gathering of writers at Book Passage, Marin county’s powerhouse independent bookstore. Read more.
Writing Tips — Begged, Borrowed, but Mostly Stolen From My Favorite Writing Coaches
I’ve been writing personal essays, newspaper columns and blog posts for years now. I’ve learned some writing tricks the hard way — by trial and error. Others I’ve just plain stolen from my various writing coaches. Here are some of my favorite personal essay writing tips.
Writing the Personal Essay — Forget the Good, Go for the Bad and the Ugly
When I’m writing a personal essay or a blog post, I find that nice stories in which I behave well and come off looking good generally don’t work so well. I look for the bad story, the ugly story, the story that shows off my marvelous human shortcomings.
Purple Bearded Irises — Close Up and (Very) Personal
[caption id="attachment_28388" align="aligncenter" width="500"]
An iris blossom close up. Purple. Photo by Barbara Newhall[/caption]
An iris blossom close up. Purple. Photo by Barbara Newhall[/caption]
There’s a heck of a lot of erotica going on inside an iris blossom. Stamen. Pistel. Haft. Claws. And, of course, those fuzzy, caterpillar-like beards. Read more.
To Finish My Book I Need a Muslim Woman With a Story to Tell
[caption id="attachment_10985" align="aligncenter" width="500"]
Berkeley CA artist Salma-Arastu with her painting “Expansion of the Universe.” Photo by BF Newhall[/caption]
Berkeley CA artist Salma-Arastu with her painting “Expansion of the Universe.” Photo by BF Newhall[/caption]
I still need to find myself a few more people to interview for my book. A nice, talky Muslim woman, for one. Read more.