Here are my books, full of words I wrote; these are my stacks of author copies. This week I have been inscribing and mailing books to the nice people who support my art, even if my particular aesthetic isn't theirs. I have been figuring out how to promote myself. I have emailed local bookstores and... Continue Reading →
2018 was my first year to pick my own reading materials for awhile and I found myself caught in the headlights, unsure of where to start. So, of course, I took recommendations from my writer friends and perused the library and googled top picks within genres and ended up liking these ones best: 1. Fun... Continue Reading →
When people ask me for book recommendations, I never know what to say. Because although I read voraciously and have favorites, what we read is a matter of personal taste. It's the same reason that, as a waitress, I hesitate to recommend anything. I hate ribeyes, but my customers might like them. However, I'm reading... Continue Reading →
There is this little thing David Sedaris wrote--the introduction to a collection of short stories--and in it he describes candidly and masterfully what it is to try to fit in and then to finally, after trying to be someone else, develop a confidence in his own opinion, which is what coming into ourselves is, if... Continue Reading →
Most misfits struggle against the story that's expected of them. You know, the cultural scripts of good citizenship that come at us in life: how to be a woman, how to be a man, how to be successful at jobs/relationships/life, how to be happy, how to love, how to marry, how to fit into society.... Continue Reading →
2017 was my only full calendar year of grad school. So yeah, I read a shit ton of books. Fifty, to be exact. And if there's one thing I am, with my lists and spreadsheets, it's exact. (only last semester's reads are pictured) Here are my top reads from last year: 1. Moon Palaceby Paul AusterNovelThis... Continue Reading →
I often write posts about books I've read and loved but I've never made a collection of short stories I love, which are equally important, but don't get the attention novels and memoirs do, for some reason I can't explain. I don't know why everyone isn't reading short story collections. Short stories are condensed versions... Continue Reading →
I once saw a copy of a page filled with the strange, elegant scratching of Nüshu, a secret writing system used for centuries by women in the Hunan Province of China and still one of the least known writing systems in the world. Only boys were allowed an education and to participate in the public... Continue Reading →
Just as you take care of the birds and the fields every morning, ever morning I wind my own spring. I give it some 36 good twists by the time I've got up, brushed my teeth, shaved, eaten breakfast, changed my clothes, left the dorm, and arrived at the university. I tell myself, "OK, let's... Continue Reading →
2016 started off rough for reading. I just wasn't picking anything that inspired me but was reading it anyway. Then I started school and learned not to do that anymore. Reading for a writer is very important: it is the study of writing and it also inspires writing. If reading does neither of those, it's... Continue Reading →
holly pelesky 