Columns

Path to Publication 3.7: What Goes Into Designing A Book Cover?

May 18th, 2015

Polis Books will release my debut novel, New Yorked, in June, with the follow-up, City of Rose, slated to follow in 2016. This is a column about taking a book over the finish line. Fact: People judge books by their covers.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.   

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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.

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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.

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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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