by Jamie Chavez | Sep 3, 2015 | Authors & Other Writers
A lot of people have gotten the idea that what I do for a living is sit around on a mountain writing a journal. I will answer that, although it is not my nature to explain myself or justify my actions. I do what I think is right and let people think what they please...
by Jamie Chavez | Aug 29, 2015 | Authors & Other Writers
Not too long ago I wrote a post called “How to Love an Author”—about how to help an author you love when he or she has just published a book. This morning a friend of mine directed me to this article from the folks at Bethany House: “Ten Things You Shouldn’t Say to...
by Jamie Chavez | Aug 20, 2015 | Authors & Other Writers
The childhoods of writers are thought to have something to do with their vocation, but when you look at these childhoods they are in fact very different. What they often contain, however, are books and solitude; and my own childhood was right on track. There were no...
by Jamie Chavez | Aug 10, 2015 | Authors & Other Writers, The Writing Craft
I’ve written about David Nicholls before.* If you’ve been around here long, you’ll know I truly loved—loved—One Day, but the fact is, I’ve read all his novels, in order, and I’ve enjoyed them all. In brief, having just reviewed those old articles, here’s what I said:...
by Jamie Chavez | Aug 8, 2015 | Authors & Other Writers, Your Editor Says …
I read quite a bit of Shirley Jackson’s fiction in middle and high school—lots of her short stories, and the “fictionalized memoirs” Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons. Since the former begins with a family that has “two children and about five thousand books,”...
by Jamie Chavez | Aug 3, 2015 | Authors & Other Writers, Books You Might Like, The Book Biz
One meaning of the word fan, according to my fave dictionary, is “an enthusiastic devotee of a sport (as baseball) or diversion (as ballet) usually as a spectator rather than a participant” and/or “an ardent admirer or champion (as of a person, technique, or...
