Marly Youmans's Blog, page 156

This post may seem a little odd to those who have been with me through many editorial departures and books that were timed in some unlucky manner. Nevertheless, I shall simply vow with Emerson that "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." * * * I don't regard myself as "special" or think that the world owes me any rewards. I am quite glad when it does toss me a gold star, but I

Death interrupts us in the midst of life, and just so it interrupts The House of Words. Here is Rebecca Beatrice Miller, my daughter, on the death of Diana Wynne Jones. I just imagine that this will remain for me the most beautiful and meanngful fan letter I know because it is a wonderful letter and because it is tied so tightly to the childhood of my middle child. Rebecca (along with her friends

Here is a link to a second video by Paul Digby (Scroll to see "A Fire in Ice.") I did not embed it because blogger is not cooperating, alas. This time Paul has made images and music for "The Nesting Doll," originally published in Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency and forthcoming this April in The Throne of Psyche from Mercer University Press. For a bigger, sharper picture, you can head to

Hello, friends and passers-by and Desirable Rabble from here and yon and kindly unknown people from around the world who come and go here peacefully without a whisper and also my mother--Today is not a writing day. Today is a traveling day. This afternoon I am taking our three visitors from Bard College back to school while the rest of the family does quite nicely without me, or so I trust. It

Thanks to anyone who views or chooses to share this video created by Paul Digby. Here is the youtube link, which gives a larger, sharper picture plus embedding code:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7ENdp... Fire in Ice" is a riposte to a poem by Billy Collins, "Taking off Emily Dickinson's Clothes."THE THRONE OF PSYCHE shipped from the mill on Friday. It is now available for pre-order

The House of WordsThe new series is getting lots of reads and some interesting comments. I can see that I definitely ought to do a "best of comments" post in the end. I am going to keep the series to Monday through Friday postings, so it will be back in a couple of days.The Throne of PsycheHardcover and paperback books shipped from the mill to Mercer University Press on Friday, so they will be

4. PersistenceHere's Peggy Leon on persistence. Peg just published her second novel, A Theory of All Things, with a fine small house, The Permanent Press. I bought mine after her reading at The Green Toad in Oneonta, but you can get yours almost anywhere--and look for her first book, Mother Country, as well."Five wildly creative siblings are drawn back into each other's orbit during a crisis.

3. Metanoia: Marsha ParkerMarsha Parker is a grand example of someone who turned away from publishing and made a different sort of creative life. The passage below is as she wrote it, minus one lovely compliment now marked by an ellipsis. (Thanks, Marsha!) At the start she is referring to a request she made for a very particular sort of poem; I wasn't sure I could fill the request. The only other

2. To Persist or Not to PersistHey, there's a reason that most books are not about writers! Oh, there may be a coming-of-age novel now and then—covering that period of a writer's life when he or she is not yet a writer, and therefore packed with homely and interesting non-writer events. Often these are events (or people--parents, often--those people who love us and attempt to save us from the

The House of Words: On Writing and PublishingIn which Marly-and-friends answer questions that readers and writers young in the craft often ask, with musings on persistence, giving up, luck, doing what you want to do, home and the writer, print publishers, the internet, and other topics of interest…1. Print publishing: persisting and giving upMuch in the print publishing world is random. Good