Read Quinn’s new post here. Reading White Egrets by Derek Walcott. Sometimes I read for surprise and difficulty. Sometimes I read for comfort. The voice and craft of this book put it in the latter category. Not that all the topics of the book were comforting: aging, losing gifts or talents, losing loved ones and … Continue reading Catching up with Quinn #3
You can read the previous post for an explanation of the title. Read Quinn’s new post. READING: Still reading The Apocrypha and Roethke. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. A student asked me about Cancer and I didn’t have much to say. That afternoon I went to the library to get a new audiobook and … Continue reading After Quinn: Catch-Up #2
For years, I have celebrated 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. This year’s is Bama-centric. I’m constantly asked about what team … Continue reading ¡calaveras!
I’ve been so busy I almost forgot to mention that the first wave of Ghoulanoids madness is available for pre-order! This has been a blast to work on and it was nice to be in contact with the inimitable Ballard Bros. again. (You can read more about their work in a previous post.) This is … Continue reading Ghoulanoids: Available for Pre-Order!
I’ve been tagged for The Writing Process Blog Tour by John King. John hosts the writing podcast The Drunken Odyssey and I’ve written elsewhere about what the show and its mercurial host have meant to my writing life. I am now tasked to answer questions about my writing process and then tag three other writers to do the … Continue reading The Writing Process Blog Tour
This is a blog tour that’s meant to get you past that humpday enervation. In part, it’s supposed to be LOUD. I don’t understand the cat meme thing so my medicine has partially been 1978ish recordings and videos of Blondie. TURN DOWN FOR WHAT is the brainchild of two contemporary writers that totally outclass me—so … Continue reading THE TURN DOWN FOR WHAT BLOG TOUR
The past few weeks have been insanely busy with the end of the grading period plus stomach virus misery in the McClurg-Vineyard camp. I’ve had several projects cooking at once, and several of them I just can’t talk about yet. For one of them, a friend of mine is going to be knocking out some … Continue reading more break than spring
A highlight of my week was having Abraham Smith jump-start the visiting writers series I’m developing for my school. On the day he spoke his new book came out and we got to hear him read from his own work and from greats like Dylan Thomas. I hope my students enjoyed interacting with him as … Continue reading a new denomination ain’t a thing but a name
In order to hone my fiction chops, I decided to join The Five Hundred, a site that presents a prompt every month with the outcome being some form of flash fiction between 400-600 words. Next week, I’ll have a ghazal (based on a “bonus” 100 word prompt) and flash fiction piece called, “In the Cup … Continue reading you’re never too old to apprentice and 7+ pieces of audio inspiration
Stephen McClurg 