An eclection of insights into the nature of writing and being a writer.
Life and Fate – documentary
Stumbled across this excellent documentary by Priscilla Pizzato, Life and Fate by Vasili Grossman (in French, with English subtitles) on the European channel Arte.tv. If you haven't yet read the book, this could be the trigger. Note that it is available online until...
Missing homework
Here Steinbeck suffers a bout of exam nerves before being bombarded with highly intellectual questions from his counterparts in the Soviet Union, particularly regarding 'American writing', which for some reason they expected him to know something about. As he says, if...
Four years old today!
Today is Shakespeare's birthday & ours! The WritingRedux literary ink-fest is 4 years old with 2000+ dazzling illustrated quotes, reviews and other bright writing delights. Sign up for regular mind-feast despatches to hone your wits and lift your...
My publisher, falsely so called…
Listening time: under 3 minutes.I loved this drawn out account of Thoreau's dealings with a publisher wanting to clear out his cellar of Thoreau's unsold books, which Thoreau had in any case had to pay for. So he gets them sent to his house, schleps them up several...
All good publishers have a department of exceptions.
Gabriel Zaid – So Many Books
An awakened influence
Charlotte Bronte describes the spirit of writing when it flows. This happens to me occasionally, and I've noticed you can't...
The secret of surprise
A pithy tip from one of the masters, succinctly conveyed in Clive James' translation. It's certainly given me food for...
The perfect spot, finally
From the multiple versions described by his wife, it seems it took many years and experiments for John Steinbeck to...
A good day’s shopping
I like this simple shopping list, two major purchases dealt with on the same day. Wonder what happened to the...
Palladian persuasive powers
Let me remember this the next time I wonder what chance there is of persuading anyone to fund ambitious cultural...
Write me some moon-letters
The love of letters, maps and handwriting all bundled into one exuberant quotation. I now need to figure out the...
Of damp and prolixity
Orlando reveals his bias towards the 18th (or against the 19th) century by noting the turn of the century as...
Two years and counting!
WritingRedux was launched in 2016 on the anniversary of Shakespeare's birth which happens to be Saint Jordi's Day in Spain,...
A plunging-in approach to writing
Wonderful exuberance of spirit in this wielding of the pen, beginning with that zestful, zipping 'Hang it all!' and 'Here...
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