Every once in a while, The New Yorker publishes a series of little vignettes, often by famous authors. Each vignette tells a story about the writer’s life. These are true stories on a theme, . . . and these little pieces often pack a large punch. My favorite vignette from a recent issue is called Lone Star, by David Wright...
The following is a guest post by Lisa Tulfer, a writer and blogger based in England. As a child, I didn’t have much access to books. I was home educated, living in a foreign country with little interaction with that country’s language or culture, and English-language books were simply not available to buy. This was in the 1970s and early...
How are modern widows handling the multifaceted challenges of reentering the dating scene and finding love anew? Two co-authors recently researched this question. They discovered that modern widows are approaching the process of finding love in uniquely modern ways. Their book, Finding Love After Loss: A Relationship Roadmap for Widows, by Marti Benedetti and Mary A. Dempsey, will be released...
I had a blog post almost complete and ready to send yesterday. But as I was coming to my conclusion, I realized that I had written myself into a corner. I had made a mistake. My entire thesis turned out to be untrue. Often, I do not know exactly what my conclusion will be until I write it. Often, I...
Bernardine Evaristo is one of the smartest writers out there today. Here I am, writing the third of three previews of her Booker-prize-winning novel, Girl, Woman, Other, and I’m noticing that the first two previews were more about larger themes than the book itself. That’s because this book has a multitude of big themes! This is a book that prompts...
The following is a guest post by Mandy Shunnarah, a writer, editor, and blogger who, like me, organizes and hosts Silent Book Club events and writes for the Silent Book Club blog. Oftentimes the quotes I end up underlining in books are the ones the author might least expect. Not throwaway lines exactly, but quotes that in the grand scheme...
Dear Blog Readers, Lovers of the Written Word, and Everyone Who Has Something to Say: As of January 2021, I am offering writing, editing, and coaching services! Do you have a book in you? Do you have a story, article, essay, report, or website in you? Is there another piece of writing that you’d like to bring into the world?...
I’m excited to announce that both of my Meetup groups are back in business! Silent Book Club of Rockville held its first meeting in months on December 6, 2020. The next meeting will be on December 20, 2020. Shut Up & Write! Gaithersburg will be holding its first meeting in months on January 2, 2021. Both groups follow a similar...
Hi friends, For those of you who are writers or have an interest in writing, I have exciting news. My 31-page e-resource for writers is now available! It’s called 10 Steps for How to Stop Procrastinating and Write That Book! (or Article, Story, Essay, Blog, Poem . . .). How to Access the E-resource The e-resource is only available to...
As I explained in last Friday’s blog post, I found George Orwell’s essays to be simultaneously dated and highly relevant to today’s world. So, pop quiz: What’s cringeworthy in this passage? What’s modern and timeless? “A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: What am I trying to say? What words...
I have never seen the river so calm and clear. I had to take a picture. Maybe it will inspire a blog post? A reader of this blog recently sent me this message and photo. Yes, inspired! Let’s take time to appreciate the aspects of our lives that are calm and clear. Further, let’s strive to bring calmness and clarity...
Waaaaay back on September 9, 2019, two days before something fell on my head, I wrote a post called How I Learned to Write (Part 1: Was It in College?). At the end of it, I promised to write more on the topic next time. This didn’t happen—actually for various reasons; it wasn’t just due to the concussion. It was...
Happy New Year! Let’s hear it for 2020! This is our year, . . . the only one we’ve got right now. Let’s make things happen! I’m excited about so many things I’m planning for this year. Here are just a few of the many upcoming events and activities in the works around here in LizaAchilles-land. What’s on the horizon...
Speaking of ranters, today I’d like to introduce to you a writer I adore. Like me, she writes a blog for people who like to read, write, and think. Unlike me, she doesn’t restrict her rants to Christmas Day. They come all year round! And if you happen to be a writer, she’s def someone to have on your radar....
I’m excited to share that an article I wrote was today published in the Washington Independent Review of Books. Read the article here!
The author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston could not find a publisher for her book Barracoon that did not want her to make extensive changes to the manuscript (as I mentioned in my last blog post), and so her book was not released until 50+ years after her death, 80+ years after it was written. The cause of the disagreement...
Does a woman writer, in modern times, still need a room of her own, plus enough money to provide her with food, housing, and other necessities? It’s been almost 100 years since Virginia Woolf published her classic book about women and fiction, A Room of One’s Own. Having read it last week, I was astonished by how applicable her thoughts...
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Books previewed
Projections Karl Deisseroth
The Indian Lawyer James Welch
Atomic Habits James Clear
The History of Philosophy A. C. Grayling
Dusk, Night, Dawn Anne Lamott
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick
Nothing to See Here Kevin Wilson
Change Damon Centola
Homeland Elegies Ayad Akhtar
Becoming Attached Robert Karen
Piranesi Susanna Clarke
Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
Solitary Albert Woodfox
Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo
Enlightenment by Trial and Error Jay Michaelson
Death in Her Hands Ottessa Moshfegh
The Cooking Gene Michael W. Twitty
The First Bad Man Miranda July
Upheaval Jared Diamond
A Journal of the Plague Year Daniel Defoe
Creatures Crissy Van Meter
Indelicacy Amina Cain
Say What You Mean Oren Jay Sofer
Habits of a Happy Brain Loretta Graziano Breuning
Bad Behavior, This Is Pleasure Mary Gaitskill
The Brother Gardeners Andrea Wulf
Severance Ling Ma
How to Be an Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi
The Museum of Modern Love Heather Rose
Why I Write George Orwell
The Woman Destroyed Simone de Beauvoir
Educated Tara Westover
The Gift Hafiz
The Collected Schizophrenias Esmé Weijun Wang
Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg
Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari
Milkman Anna Burns
Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer
Waiting for Bojangles Olivier Bourdeaut
A Mind Unraveled Kurt Eichenwald
Eugénie Grandet Honoré de Balzac
The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald
Digital Minimalism Cal Newport
The Sisters Brothers Patrick deWitt
Dare to Lead Brené Brown
My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh
Almost Everything Anne Lamott
Born to Run Christopher McDougall, Bruce Springsteen
The Ladies’ Paradise Émile Zola
The World Beyond Your Head Matthew B. Crawford
All the Birds, Singing Evie Wyld
Barracoon Zora Neale Hurston
Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury
JavaScript & jQuery Jon Duckett
Home Fire Kamila Shamsie
The Weather Detective Peter Wohlleben
Play It As It Lays Joan Didion
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Mark Manson
Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata
Perfect Me Heather Widdows
Sorry to Disrupt the Peace Patty Yumi Cottrell
Why Buddhism Is True Robert Wright
What Is Real? Adam Becker
Kudos Rachel Cusk
The Days of Abandonment Elena Ferrante
F*cked Corinne Fisher & Krystyna Hutchinson
Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine Alan Lightman
Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
A Room of One’s Own Virginia Woolf
The Indian Lawyer James Welch
Atomic Habits James Clear
The History of Philosophy A. C. Grayling
Dusk, Night, Dawn Anne Lamott
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K. Dick
Nothing to See Here Kevin Wilson
Change Damon Centola
Homeland Elegies Ayad Akhtar
Becoming Attached Robert Karen
Piranesi Susanna Clarke
Don Quixote Miguel de Cervantes
Solitary Albert Woodfox
Girl, Woman, Other Bernardine Evaristo
Enlightenment by Trial and Error Jay Michaelson
Death in Her Hands Ottessa Moshfegh
The Cooking Gene Michael W. Twitty
The First Bad Man Miranda July
Upheaval Jared Diamond
A Journal of the Plague Year Daniel Defoe
Creatures Crissy Van Meter
Indelicacy Amina Cain
Say What You Mean Oren Jay Sofer
Habits of a Happy Brain Loretta Graziano Breuning
Bad Behavior, This Is Pleasure Mary Gaitskill
The Brother Gardeners Andrea Wulf
Severance Ling Ma
How to Be an Antiracist Ibram X. Kendi
The Museum of Modern Love Heather Rose
Why I Write George Orwell
The Woman Destroyed Simone de Beauvoir
Educated Tara Westover
The Gift Hafiz
The Collected Schizophrenias Esmé Weijun Wang
Your Duck Is My Duck Deborah Eisenberg
Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari
Milkman Anna Burns
Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer
Waiting for Bojangles Olivier Bourdeaut
A Mind Unraveled Kurt Eichenwald
Eugénie Grandet Honoré de Balzac
The Body Keeps the Score Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald
Digital Minimalism Cal Newport
The Sisters Brothers Patrick deWitt
Dare to Lead Brené Brown
My Year of Rest and Relaxation Ottessa Moshfegh
Almost Everything Anne Lamott
Born to Run Christopher McDougall, Bruce Springsteen
The Ladies’ Paradise Émile Zola
The World Beyond Your Head Matthew B. Crawford
All the Birds, Singing Evie Wyld
Barracoon Zora Neale Hurston
Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury
JavaScript & jQuery Jon Duckett
Home Fire Kamila Shamsie
The Weather Detective Peter Wohlleben
Play It As It Lays Joan Didion
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck Mark Manson
Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata
Perfect Me Heather Widdows
Sorry to Disrupt the Peace Patty Yumi Cottrell
Why Buddhism Is True Robert Wright
What Is Real? Adam Becker
Kudos Rachel Cusk
The Days of Abandonment Elena Ferrante
F*cked Corinne Fisher & Krystyna Hutchinson
Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine Alan Lightman
Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys
Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace
A Room of One’s Own Virginia Woolf
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