Crapalachia author Scott McClanahan kicks off The Triangle’s brand new “visual interview” series with shots of himself, a dumpster behind his house, and his pair of “writing panties.” (Bonus: I urge you to read his books.)
“I Write Because I Have Hands.”
Let’s Talk Poetry, Shall We?
Willard Spiegelman’s provocative essay in the VQR’s recent State of American Poetry issue, “Has Poetry Changed?” incited quite a few responses. One of the better rejoinders came from William Childress, whose response, “Is Free Verse Killing Poetry,” raises some excellent points. “Poetry needs readers, not writers,” writes Childress. “But how many poets read any poetry but their own?”
Crosswords Uncrossed
Even if you've already seen the outstanding documentary Wordplay, you'll still want to check out this Atlantic article on how Will Shortz makes his New York Times crossword puzzles.
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Words, Quantitatively
Google has just released a tool that lets you see how frequently certain words have appeared in the millions of books from all eras that Google has scanned. It's pretty neat. Here are some presidents, technologies, and the meaning of life.
Look Away
“Recently, a friend told me she didn’t like pictures of herself because she never looked the way she thought she did in her head. I think this pretty much describes the universal horror that is looking at your own photos, and that’s why I love the selfie so much. It gives you all the controls to the story you are telling.” In defense of the selfie.
E-book Release Delays
An article in the Wall Street Journal about the third publishing house -- HarperCollins, who joined Simon & Schuster and Hachette -- to delay e-book publication of new (hardcover) titles. The debate over timing and pricing of new-release e-books (@$9.99) continues.
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