Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author of the multi award-winning series of HowToDoItFrugally books for writers, such as USA Book News’ winner, The Frugal Book Promoter. An instructor for UCLA Extension’s Writers Program for nearly a decade, her awards include Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment (given by members of the California Legislature), and Women Who Make Life Happen (given by the Pasadena Weekly newspaper). She is also an award-winning poet and novelist.
What was your first writing job?
My real first job was at The Salt Lake Tribune as a staff writer (and later, a columnist) when I was only eighteen. That was when we still used teletypes and they set the plates for a newspaper by pouring hot lead into forms! Journalism has never been more exciting than it was then!…
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An up-and-coming yet substantially celebrated creator, New York novelist, poet, visual artist, and musician Nathaniel Bellows is multitalented, to say the least. Thus far, he’s published two novels (On This Day and Nan: A Novel in Stories), a collection of poetry (Why Speak?), and several musical works. On March 30th, he’ll be issuing his second solo album, Swan and Wolf, a poignant collection of singer/songwriter gems.
On this episode of Cover to Cover with . . ., Editor-in-Chief Jordan Blum chats with Bellows about his various artistic outlets, the value of an MFA program, the splendor of Joanna Newsom’s Divers, and much more.
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– Nathaniel Bellows…
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It is now commonly understood that “Little Green”, one of the most arresting tracks on Joni Mitchell’s classic 1971 album Blue is a work of autobiography. More specifically, it’s about Mitchell, alone and freezing in the middle of winter in downtown Toronto, giving her child up for adoption, a fleeting last wish for her daughter’s happiness that the two will no longer share. Rendered in slightly veiled language, the song nevertheless spins a heartbreaking portrait of intermingled loss and hope, even divorced from its specific subject matter. The crucial thing, though, is that this context was not known at the time of the album’s initial release, and many had assumed it was simply a story song in the vein of many that were common from singers-songwriters of the time, such as James Taylor and Carole King.…
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(Contains major spoilers for the finale of Big Little Lies)
Let’s talk about Audrey.
Specifically, let’s talk about the quartet of riotous, righteous Audreys who come to the defense of their fellow embattled, battered Audrey in the finale of Big Little Lies.
I just re-‐watched the climactic scene on the back terrace, and upon second viewing, it is so much more. A fight plays out at the top of those treacherous stairs, during which all the Audreys—those quintessential, classic icons of delicate femininity—are transformed into a shield, a battalion protecting one of their own against a cruel, unjust patriarchy.
Who are the Audreys? On the surface, they are characters attending a themed “Elvis and Audrey” costume party. But why these five Audreys? My lovely sister is an acclaimed costume designer, J.R.…
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Since 1997, B. Lynn Goodwin‘s Writer Advice has grown from a newsletter for writers into an e-zine that invites reader participation through quality fiction, memoirs, interviews, reviews, and articles reaching readers around the globe. She has also written You Want Me to Do WHAT? Journaling for Caregivers (Tate Publishing), Talent (Eternal Press), and Never Too Late: From Wannabe to Wife at 62 (Koehler Books). She’s won The Literary Lightbox Award, the Bronze Medal in the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards, and was short-listed for a Sarton Women’s Book Award. Goodwin has appeared in Small Press Review; Dramatics Magazine; The Sun; Caregiver Village; Good Housekeeping.com; and elsewhere. She’s a reviewer and teacher at Story Circle Network, as well as manuscript coach at Writer Advice.
Susan Wittig Albert, Ph.D.,…
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We’re born with a finite number of opportunities. Attrition, bad choices, misspent goodwill, and fucked-up luck. The opportunities dwindle through a process called living. Our portfolio of prospects turns into a tattered novel of outcomes. I am twenty-two.
Thus opens Where Night Stops, the latest book from American writer Douglas Light, whose story collection, Girls of Trouble, won the 2010 Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction. (Also, his debut, East Fifth Bliss, was turned into the film Trouble with Bliss, which starred Michael C. Hall, Brie Larson, and Peter Fonda.) Filled with tense and intriguing situations, plenty of poignant and philosophical sentiments, and an assortment of colorful—if also slightly underdeveloped—characters, the novel is a captivating psychological drama whose relentless vibrancy and pace mostly makes up for its marginally opaque and repetitious core.…
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Amy Bloom’s latest novel, White Houses, is a work of historical fiction that recreates the love affair between Eleanor Roosevelt and journalist Lorena Hickok. The novel is told from Lorena’s perspective and spans decades, encompassing everything from her abusive childhood in South Dakota to her time spent living in the White House (and ultimately finds her in her elderly years). Lorena makes a witty, charismatic narrator, and her relationship with Eleanor seems built on a mutual respect for each other’s strength. As a result, White Houses is a charming and tender depiction of middle-aged love, and Bloom captures the gamut of emotions—everything from rapture to pain—that accompanies growing older with someone.
Lorena’s childhood in South Dakota informs facets of her relationship with Eleanor, and this section proves to be one of the most moving and vivid parts of the novel.…
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