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My Digitization Nightmare: 10 Ways To Fail While Digitizing Your Work
May 15th, 2015
I don't know much about life hacks. I don't know a lot about the finer points of Evernote. And I definitely don't understand the life-saving magic of tidying up. I missed that class at Hogwart's, I guess. What I do know is that I just moved. As in, moved from one house to another. As in, carried every item I own, in my arms, out one door and into another.
Read Column →Product Review: Logitech Keys-To-Go Keyboard for iPad
May 14th, 2015
all images © Logitech.com About a year ago, I reviewed the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover for iPad Air, a sleek piece of tech that made writing on the iPad a breeze.
Read Column →Three Books About... Transformation
May 14th, 2015
The filmmaker David Cronenberg, a man you could reasonably say is obsessed with transformation, begins an essay on the subject in the Paris Review like this: I woke up one morning recently to discover that I was a seventy-year-old man.
Read Column →The Familiar Volume 1: Where the Hell is Danielewski Going With This?
May 13th, 2015
On September 15, 2010, it was announced that Mark Z. Danielewski was working on a twenty-seven volume serial novel about "a twelve-year-old girl who finds a kitten." The internet's collective head
Read Column →From Short Story to Film: How I (Co-)Wrote My First Movie Script
May 12th, 2015
On a sunny day in early March, I met a guy. No, no, not like that. Shut up.
Read Column →10 Bloodlust-Satisfying Deaths in Fiction
May 8th, 2015
First Warning: MAJOR Spoilers Ahead You hear this advice given to writers all the time: create complicated, realistic characters in your fiction. No one likes a one-dimensional, one-note hero—give us depth, let us empathize.
Read Column →Faust, Facebook, and the Future of Media
May 8th, 2015
Is Facebook Mephistopheles, or a misunderstood trendsetter? Whichever the answer, there are certainly changes afoot in the media industry. What began as rumor in 2014 appears now to be on the brink of confirmation: the social media giant wants to sign contracts with an eclectic group of media organizations, including the New York Times, BuzzFeed, and National Geographic.
Read Column →The 21st Century Crucible: Why 'The Crucible' is Still Relevant
May 7th, 2015
Published in 1953, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible has become a cornerstone of American theatre. The play portrays (with historical changes) the Salem witch trials of 1692 and 1693, and was a response to the House Un-American Activities Committee. The committee questioned Miller in 1956 about his political activities and later convicted him for refusing to give up the names of those who attended political meetings with him.
Read Column →4 Great Literary Moms
May 7th, 2015
Today is my mother’s birthday. She would have been 97. I didn’t pitch this column based on this personal landmark, though, but rather on the national holiday called Mother’s Day. I’ve always been ambivalent about Mother’s Day. Who isn’t, except perhaps for the nation’s 86 million mothers? It’s likely far fewer.
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