We’ve had great weather here, so when the kids get home we’ve been going to the park. I miss when the geese would waddle around us. Now there’s just screeching trees, but at least the insects and the heat haven’t taken over…yet. Mostly it’s just Spider-Man jumps and running around the playground. My oldest likes … Continue reading The Week That Was, or Red Planet Aligned
The week began with some semi-restful snow days. I don’t believe anyone in our home was permanently damaged, though a few tears were shed and more than a few markers bled. The almost-four-year-old sang while we were discussing dinner plans. Her song began, “Tiki masala / I need a dolla.” Not bad. I wrote about … Continue reading The Week That Was, or You got some Duncan Idaho on my Gurney Halleck.
Though in different ways, this year was as tough as last year. Maybe that’s just what it is. I wrote seven installments of Test Prep, my contribution to The Terror Test, a horror podcast made by two fellow English teachers. I wasn’t able to write as many as I wanted to, but I’m proud of … Continue reading The Year in Writing 2017
Much of my weekend will be tending to children, grading essays, and writing curriculum. I might sneak in some other writing here and there, but I find that my school work often eats at those muscles and I tend to write less when the school year is fully flourishing. Plus, this is the second year … Continue reading Some recent reading and other such…
Over the last few years, I’ve posted mega-lists of works I’m either just starting to chew on or digesting. I’ve tried to write about this more frequently this year. I decided I’d also do a set of mid-year lists of favorites so far. General Favorites 2017–So Far Books that left traces. Fiction Einstein’s Dreams: Alan … Continue reading Mid-Year Reading
I’m reading J.H. Prynne’s The White Stones for the first time and while enjoying it, I often find myself feeling lost. I don’t find that a negative response; I have often felt that way with works that have become favorites. There are themes and images that connect across the poems and I’m just barely getting an overall … Continue reading to be warm and tired/without some impossible flame in the heart
I celebrate Day of the Dead by writing “calaveras literarias.” Some people write poems for loved ones, but another tradition is to write humorous “tombstones.” I write the latter–-or try to. I mostly try to make fun of myself for my students. Here Lies McClurg (2016) All day he read in a nook. I yelled … Continue reading Seven Calaveras
This is the catalog for episode three of The Laboratory, part of The Outrider Podcast. If you’re not sure what this is, start here. Episode 3 began with our discussion of our unique failures in handling the last prompt. Jason wrote a paragraph or so and I wrote over 2,100 words of a still unfinished … Continue reading Your story has to be about asking questions, not coming up with the right answer or There’s poop on the floor: Laboratory #3.
I’m co-hosting a writing podcast with Jason Quinn Malott called The Laboratory. We are giving each other monthly writing prompts and then seeing what comes of them. We get into writing process and mechanics in a way that’s at least interesting to me. Our third episode was released today. I’ve started cataloging our references from … Continue reading Next time you better plan your massacre more carefully: Laboratory #2
Stephen McClurg 