tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-100912862024-03-26T02:04:52.086-07:00Pen On Fire / Writers on WritingTHIS BLOG HAS MOVED TO PENONFIRE.COM
Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.comBlogger826125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-67382208580033818362013-01-10T10:11:00.001-08:002013-09-11T15:26:01.037-07:00This blog has ended.....<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">....but DO NOT DESPAIR....</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">visit <a href="http://www.penonfire.com/">www.penonfire.com</a> for the active blog and for the website and goings on. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">If you want the archive for the radio show podcasts, visit <a href="http://writersonwriting.blogspot.com/">writersonwriting.blogspot.com</a>. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Shows will be posted on <a href="http://penonfire.com/">penonfire.com</a> when available, too. You can also subscribe to receive emails when new posts are made on the blog. Visit <a href="http://penonfire.com/">penonfire.com</a> to subscribe.</span></span></span></span></div>
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Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-45679256682399689812013-01-10T06:30:00.000-08:002013-01-10T10:12:10.055-08:00Author & activist Robert "Snorkel Bob" Wintner on Writers on WritingAuthor and activist Robert "Snorkel Bob" Winter, talks with Barbara DeMarco-Barrett about his books, and about endangered tropical fish in Hawaii.<br />
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<a href="http://www.barbarademarcobarrett.com/writersonwriting/audio/Snorkel_Bob-2012-12-05.mp3">Download audio.</a><br />
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(Broadcast date: Dec. 5, 2012)Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-18027114278603592722013-01-08T21:19:00.002-08:002013-01-08T21:28:48.071-08:00Authors on self-publishing, on Writers on WritingAuthors Sonia Marsh, Mary Castillo, Nancy Klann-Moren, and Charles Leister talk about their books, and the process of self publishing. (Starts a little bit late.)<br />
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<a href="http://www.barbarademarcobarrett.com/writersonwriting/audio/Self_published-2013-01-02.mp3">Download audio</a>.<br />
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(Broadcast date: Jan. 2, 2013Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-24696667945700651992012-12-31T12:46:00.000-08:002012-12-31T12:46:48.443-08:00Diana Wagman on Writers on Writing (podcast)Novelist Diana Wagman, author of <i>The Care and Feeding of Exotic Pets</i>, spent the entire hour with me talking about her new novel, publishing, writing, and more.<br />
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<a href="http://www.barbarademarcobarrett.com/writersonwriting/audio/Diana_Wagman-2012-12-12.mp3">Download audio</a>.<br />
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(Broadcast date: December 12, 2012)Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-52159535409663504602012-12-27T17:21:00.000-08:002012-12-27T17:21:35.389-08:00Ancient Light Novelist John Banville on Writers on WritingDublin-based novelist (journalist, screenwriter, book reviewer) <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=john+banville&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a">John Banville</a> for an hour to about his latest novel, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ancient-light-john-banville/1108180039?ean=9780307957054"><i>Ancient Light</i></a>, his mystery series, writing, writers, and more, and as the show goes on, it gets downright jolly.<br />
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<a href="http://www.barbarademarcobarrett.com/writersonwriting/audio/John_Banville-12_19_12.mp3">Download audio</a>.<br />
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(Broadcast date: 12.19.2012)Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-39238490411094459832012-11-12T17:29:00.001-08:002012-11-12T17:29:00.269-08:00BLOG UPDATEHi gang,
My website has been revamped and so you can now find my blog on the website at www.penonfire.com. If you're just looking for radio shows that have been podcast, writersonwriting.blogspot.com has those.
Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-39655448640268863622012-09-27T16:47:00.000-07:002012-09-27T16:54:17.140-07:00West Hollywood Book Fair...and moreIf you're in Southern California this coming Sunday, come to the <a href="http://westhollywoodbookfair.org/" target="_blank">West Hollywood Book Fair</a>. Lots of panels and literary company. Free parking, a free fun day in the sun. My memoir panel with Claire Bidwell Smith, Pamela Ribon, and Judith Hannan is at 11 on the Eclectic Stage. Come by!<br />
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On October 23 at the Pen on Fire Writers Salon at Scape Gallery in Corona del Mar, our guest will be Martin J. Smith, author of The Wild Duck Chase. Marty is also editor at Orange Coast magazine so he'll be talking about his book, writing narrative nonfiction and essays. More <a href="http://www.penonfire.com/speakerseries" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-42404421023382351852012-09-09T09:47:00.002-07:002012-09-09T09:47:30.781-07:00A writing workshop, upcoming salon, & radioI always forget to post here that my Gotham Writing Workshop called "Jumpstart Your Writing" begins on October 2. You can read all about it <a href="http://www.writingclasses.com/CourseDescriptionPages/GenrePages.php/ClassGenreCode/JW" target="_blank">here</a>. It's an online workshop for writers who need to, as it says, jumpstart their writing. There's exercises, lectures, critiques. What's also fun about it is that writers from all over the world participate. Email me if you have questions for me.<br />
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Also, the Pen on Fire Writers Salon will host novelists Susan Straight and Tatjana Soli on Sept. 18. You can read more about it <a href="http://www.penonfire.com/speakerseries" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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And the show (Writers on Writing) as always, broadcasts Wednesday mornings at 9 a.m. PT on KUCI-FM 88.9. Listen at iTunes college radio or at www.kuci.org (click on the upper right hand corner and listen on your computer or smart phone). Podcasts of past shows are posted here and on writersonwriting.blogspot.com (the dedicated show blog). Coming up this month and next are Laura Lippman, Rex Pickett ("Sideways" author), Cheryl Strayed, Jo-Ann Mapson, Arthur PlotnikIlie Ruby, D.T. Max and Claire Johns.Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-80297637915780220542012-09-01T16:40:00.000-07:002012-09-01T16:44:37.398-07:00Chris Bohjalian & Randy Dotinga on Writers on WritingChris Bohjalian, author of <i>The Sandcastle Girls</i>, and journalist and <i>Christian Science Monitor</i> book reviewer Randy Dotinga talk with me on Writers on Writing, KUCI-FM 88.9 in Orange Co, CA and online at www.kuci.org and iTunes college radio. More at penonfire.blogspot.com.<br />
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<a href="http://www.barbarademarcobarrett.com/writersonwriting/audio/Chris_Bohjalian-Randy_Dotinga-2012-08-29%201.mp3">Download audio</a>.<br />
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(Broadcast date: July 29, 2012Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-52172787874940373662012-08-28T07:53:00.000-07:002012-08-28T07:53:00.301-07:00Robin Hemley interviewThis is a Voices on Writing feature I wrote for the June issue of The ASJA Monthly, which I edit. This is the unedited version. More Voices on Writing Q&As at www.asja.org; click on The ASJA Monthly.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: Consolas;">Voices on Writing: Robin Hemley</span></b></span></div>
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Robin Hemley is the author of ten books of nonfiction and
fiction and the winner of many awards including a 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship,
The Nelson Algren Award for Fiction from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Chicago Tribune, The Story Magazine</i> Humor Prize, an Independent Press Book
Award, two Pushcart Prizes and many others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His fiction, nonfiction, and poetry has been published in the U.S.,
Great Britain, Germany, Japan, the Philippines, and Hong Kong, and he teaches
creative writing workshops around the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He has been widely anthologized and has published his work in such
places as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The New York Times, The
Believer, The Huffington Post, Orion, The Wall Street Journal, The Chicago
Tribune, New York Magazine</i>, and literary magazines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The BBC is currently developing a feature
film based on his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Invented Eden</i>
that tells the story of a purported anthropological hoax in the Philippines.
His third collection of short stories, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Reply
All,</i> is forthcoming in 2012 from Indiana University Press (Break Away
Books) and The University of Georgia Press recently published his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Field Guide For Immersion Writing: Memoir,
Journalism, And Travel</i> (reviewed by Steve Weinberg in this month’s What’s
in Store column). He is a senior editor of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Iowa Review</i> as well as the editor of a popular online journal, Defunct
(Defunctmag.com) that features short essays on everything that’s had its
day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He currently directs the Nonfiction
Writing Program at The University of Iowa and is the founder and organizer of
NonfictioNow, a biennal conference that will convene in November 2012 in
Melbourne, Australia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">Your CV is
intimidating. Have you always been a writer?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">I’ve always written, but I haven’t always identified myself as a
writer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I come from a literary family: My
mother was a short story writer, translator, and novelist, and my father was a
publisher, novelist, poet, and translator. So, from an early age, part of my
life included writing and reading.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">Y<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">our focus, for the most part,
has been short stories, essays, and memoir. What is it about these
genres that grabs you?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">It’s true I like the short form—essays and stories—though I’ve gone
long several times, as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Last Studebaker</i>, was well-received
and reviewed, and I’m only now working on a second novel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I love the novel form, too, but I tend to
write in whatever form interests me at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Workshops tend to focus
on the short story. When I went to the Iowa Writers’ Workshop as a young
writer, I wrote a lot of stories, some of which made it into my first book of
stories. I loved short stories well before that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to love to peruse my family library
and pull short story collections from the shelves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s how I discovered Kafka, Borges, and
Isaac Babel, among others. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After graduate
school, for a couple of years I taught part-time at The School of the Art
Institute of Chicago, and there I taught “Essay Writing.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a basic composition course, but
here, I fell in love with the essay, too, largely through an anthology that the
poet Donald Hall edited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the time, hardly
anyone in the academy thought of the essay as an art form that held its own
against the short story and the poem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s all changed now, and I’m glad of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think the short form interests me so much
because these forms tend to focus on what’s not written as much as what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is </i>written.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The gaps, what’s left out, what’s left to the
reader’s imagination—this is what makes these forms so vibrant to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">What's the
crossover?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Can you repeat the
question? I didn't catch that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">Um,
crossover—</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ha, sorry, my silly
sense of humor displays itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Okay,
crossover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With my family background,
you can see that crossover is inevitable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve never been one to declare genre loyalty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure, writers tend to excel at one form, but
there are many writers who don’t want to limit their creativity to just one
form, and that’s certainly how I feel about my own writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">Tell me
about your new book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Field Guide for
Immersion Writing</i>.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This book arose
directly from my book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Do-Over</i>, in
which I revisited past embarrassments and failures from my childhood.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I was asked what I’d call this type of
writing, I said it was an immersion memoir.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The term “immersion” has long been applied to journalism but never
before to memoir—when I was speaking to an editor at The University of Georgia
Press about this type of writing, she suggested I write a book on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over time, I expanded the idea to consider
immersion writing in all its forms: memoir, journalism, and finally, travel
writing—which of course involves immersion as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">This book
crosses over a little bit with another book of yours, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Turning Life</i></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">into Fiction</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">,
which has sold more than 50,000 copies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I love life-based fiction. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
prompted you to write it?</span></b></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">Turning Life
into Fiction</span></i><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">, likewise, came out of my engagement with the subject and a
discussion with an editor, Lois Rosenthal, who founded Story Press and briefly
revived <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Story Magazine</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had been teaching about the transformation
process in fiction, the ways in which we turn experience into fiction, and Lois
asked me if I’d write a book about this for her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe it was the first book that Story
Press published.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, when Lois and
her husband Richard sold their publishing enterprise, the book somewhat
inexplicably went out of print, though it was selling well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so, Graywolf Press picked it up and it’s
now in its second or third printing with them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">Both <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A Field Guide</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Turning Life into Fiction</i> talk about use what</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">you're
living through and write about it. Is this the main way you find
your</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">subject
matter?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">I find my subject matter in a lot of different ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a writer, I’m fairly eclectic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve written from dreams and I’ve written
about people who have nothing to do with what I’m living. One story in my
forthcoming collection of short stories is from the point of view of a
Portuguese spy on the ship of the explorer Magellan and another takes place
outside of Chino, France, in the time of Joan of Arc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ideas present themselves in many forms, and
if they intrigue me enough, I take them on.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">Do you
believe immersion journalism is a more...valid brand of journalism?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">I wouldn’t use the term “valid,” but I do believe that traditional
journalists can be blind to their own agendas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve experienced this personally—how a self-righteous journalist can
completely muck up a story and still remain self-righteous.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My experience with
this comes from my book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Invented Eden: The
Elusive, Disputed History of the Tasaday</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This told the story of a group of 26 people who were “discovered” living
in the rainforest in supposed complete isolation in the Southern Philippines in
1971.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>For a while they were
hailed as the ethnographic find of the century and a 45,000 acre reserve was
given to them by the Marcos Administration.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For a while they were a world-wide sensation, supposedly living an existence
that closely resembled the cave-dwelling lifestyles of our Pleistocene-era
ancestors. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then in 1986, a freelance reporter from
Switzerland hiked into the rainforest unannounced and was told through
interpreters that the Tasaday were a hoax, that they were simply local farmers
who had been coerced into playing Caveman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Good story, but it
wasn’t true.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The guy hiked in and out of
the rainforest in a couple of days and believed his translator, a local anti-Marcos
activist who had an agenda of his own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Now, the world declared that they weren’t the find of the century, but
the hoax of the century, and credulous reporters followed, all filing
supposedly objective stories that agreed the Tasaday were a hoax, without
knowing anything about the complex political and cultural situation of the
Philippines at the time. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s called “confirmation
bias,” the idea that you pay attention to arguments and “facts” that support
your theories, and ignore or throw out anything that disagrees with your
theories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everyone is susceptible to it,
even supposedly objective journalists.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In this case, they created a mess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I spent five years
researching the story, traveling around the world and meeting everyone alive
who was a part of the story: journalists, academics, even the Tasaday
themselves, and I found out that the story was a lot more complex and that the
real hoax was perpetrated by the people who said the Tasaday were a hoax.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet the conventional wisdom today is still
that the Tasaday were a hoax, mostly because of bad reporting that was
broadcast on ABC’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">20/20</i> and taken as
gospel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I simply think it’s
good to own up to your biases, to allow the reader to see that a human being,
and not a supposedly infallible news organization, has written the story and
gathered the information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">When doing
immersion journalism or travel writing, I assume it's best to</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">come across
as much like a non-writer as possible?</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">I wouldn't say that’s always the case; it’s only true of writers who write
what I call an “infiltration.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ted
Conover, for instance in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New Jack</i>,
when he was writing about being a guard at Sing Sing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or Kevin Roose when he, a liberal student
from Brown, infiltrated the conservative Christian Liberty University in
Lynchburg, Virginia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Short of that kind
of infiltration, I think it’s good to be honest about being a writer—and I
think that there are ethical considerations involved in the infiltration as
well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s no rulebook, but I have a
chapter of ethical and legal considerations in which I delve into the writer’s
responsibility to the subject.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">Talk about
the marketplace, especially for travel writers.</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">I think there’s always a market for a well-written travel book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t say for certain because I’m not a
marketer, but it seems to be a pretty strong niche.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">Quite a few publishers
now print disclaimers on an opening page of a memoir that names have been
changed. Which makes me wonder: Should a memoir writer allow his or
her subjects to vet the manuscript at any point along the way?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">That’s a good question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
really depends on what you’re writing about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When I was writing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Do-Over</i>,
one of the people I wanted to write about said that she didn’t want to be “an
incidental character in your adventure.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I liked that. It made me think about my relationship to the people I
wrote about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In her case, I showed her
what I had written and changed her name, but others didn’t ask that of me. I
changed the names of anyone under 18 except for my daughters, but I also gave
them the chance to read the manuscript before I sent it to the publisher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I wrote <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Invented Eden</i>, I didn’t have the luxury
of changing names, and I needed to make sure that nothing I wrote was
actionable. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Traditionally,
journalists have resisted showing what they write to their subjects, but in
some instances, that’s something worth reconsidering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">Some have
said the memoir genre is a crowded one. What do you think?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">Every genre is crowded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thousands
of novels are published every year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thousands of books of poetry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are plenty of good books and plenty of bad books of every kind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">What's your
opinion of the mountains of self-published books, and do you</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">think they
help or hinder the publication and marketing of traditionally</span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">published
books?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">I know of a couple of people who’ve self-published books
successfully, but they are definitely the exception.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I don’t think it carries the stigma it
used to, there are so many exciting independent presses out there now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only is it easier to self-publish, but
it’s also easier to publish other people, to start your own press.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One start-up, Engine Books in Indianapolis,
has published a short story collection and a novel by two friends of mine, both
fabulous writers who might be relegated to the mid-list with traditional
houses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they’ve been doing well—this
publisher publishes two to three titles a year, and my friend’s short story
collection was just reviewed in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">O: the
Oprah</i> Magazine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So why self-publish
when there are so many good independent publishers out there?</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">Many of your
books have been published by smaller presses. In other words, not by the Big
Six. Talk about the value of smaller presses.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">I wouldn’t necessarily call them smaller presses. Three of my books
have been published by Graywolf, which isn’t exactly a small press anymore, but
a giant of independent presses. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In any case, I’d
prefer to call these presses “Independent” rather than “small.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My father was the founder and publisher of
just such an Independent Press, the somewhat legendary Noonday, which in the
fifties was what Graywolf is today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One of the biggest
strengths of independent presses is that they don’t necessarily have to be as
slavish to the bottom line as some of the larger presses are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They can take chances, especially those that
are nonprofit, such as Graywolf. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A case in point is
Noonday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When my father was first
starting it up in the 1950s he and my mother attended a cocktail party given by
the owner of The New Yorker Theater, Dan Talbot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the middle of the party, Talbot shushed
everyone and said he wanted to read this great new story that had just appeared
in the latest issue of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Partisan
Review</i>, an important literary magazine of its day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you imagine anyone at a party doing such
a thing now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story in question was a
translation by Saul Bellow of a then-unknown Yiddish writer, Isaac Bashevis
Singer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Talbot read the
story and my father asked if Talbot knew Singer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did and a meeting was arranged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It turned out that Signer was upset by the
way that Alfred Knopf had edited his first novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Family Moskat</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According
to Singer, Knopf had butchered the book, and so Singer was amenable to working
with my father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Singer and my father
were a great match, and my father became Singer’s translator, editor, and
trusted friend. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Independent
publishers love literature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That can’t
always be said for the big corporate houses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Matthew Arnold said that “journalism is literature in a hurry,” but now
literature is literature in a hurry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What I mean is that that nurturing spirit is largely absent from large
houses: If you don’t succeed right away, you’re out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But independent publishers still nurture
their writers for the most part.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">Let’s talk
about teaching. How do you teach nonfiction writing?</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">That’s a difficult question to answer—but briefly I do it through a
combination of manuscript critique, peer critique, and individual
conferencing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it really depends on
the venue: a traditional university, a weekend workshop, or a low-residency
distance-learning model.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They all demand
different approaches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In general, I give
students models in the genre in which they’re working, I sometimes use writing
exercises (again, depending on the level), and I try to see what the writer is
attempting to do and help him or her achieve that goal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m working with so many different kinds of
nonfiction writers that I have to tailor my approach somewhat to each writer.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">How does
teaching help or hinder your own work?</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Miller Display"; mso-bidi-font-family: Consolas;">Sometimes it helps, sometimes it hinders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It depends on the time of year and the
students with whom I’m dealing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I work
with some mightily talented students and while I don’t usually find myself
directly inspired by their work, I do get a vicarious pleasure in helping them
turn their ideas into essays and books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-63537279473314973052012-08-18T10:49:00.004-07:002012-08-18T10:49:44.559-07:00PoetryEvery so often I rant about how everyone should read poetry if they want their writing to move to the next level. So here's a poem for you, one I just ran into today on <a href="http://teabird17.blogspot.com/2012/04/two-villanelles-for-national-poetry.html" target="_blank">Melanie's blog</a>, by Theodore Roethke. I've loved this poem ever since I studied poetry in college. Do you read poetry--ever? Favorite poem? Post a link if there is one.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> <i>The Waking</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-left;">I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-left;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-left;">I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.</span><br style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-left;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px; text-align: -webkit-left;">I learn by going where I have to go.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We think by feeling. What is there to know?<br />I hear my being dance from ear to ear.<br />I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of those so close beside me, which are you?<br />God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,<br />And learn by going where I have to go.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?<br />The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;<br />I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Great Nature has another thing to do<br />To you and me, so take the lively air,<br />And, lovely, learn by going where to go.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.<br />What falls away is always. And is near.<br />I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.<br />I learn by going where I have to go.</span></div>
Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-77415999600831351972012-08-12T10:30:00.001-07:002012-08-12T10:30:05.610-07:00Ken Ballen & Tim Harford<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Terrorists-Love-Lives-Islamic-Radicals/dp/B00740FNF6/">Ken Ballen</a>, author of <i>Terrorists in Love: The Real Lives of Islamic Radicals</i> talks to Marrie Stone about why and how some of the world's most dangerous terrorists opened up and shared their stories, America's misconceptions about terrorism, and what we should really fear. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Adapt-Success-Always-Starts-Failure/dp/1250007550/">Tim Harford</a>, author of <i>Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure,</i> chats about how this book has helped with his own approach to writing and life. </div>
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<a href="http://www.barbarademarcobarrett.com/writersonwriting/audio/Ken-Ballen_Tim-Harford_7-4-12.mp3">Download audio. </a></div>
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(Broadcast date: July 4, 2012)</div>Marriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15233577055388334580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-69545131095157523992012-08-12T08:31:00.001-07:002012-08-12T08:33:14.966-07:00Blueberry tarts for fella tarts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Okay, this one isn't about books or authors or the show, but about tarts. Cleanse your minds, folks; you've been looking at online porno a bit too much. I'm talking about the tarts you make from scratch using summer fruit. In this case, blueberries. These tarts were a major hit and my cousin Gerry and a few friends asked for the recipe, so here it is. The recipe hasn't been kitchen tested so don't sue me if the tarts don't come out exactly right. But the recipe is kinda basic so I'm confident your result will be delish.<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Blueberry tarts for
fella tarts</b></div>
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It’s so hard to get it exactly right when you see how things
are going and you add a little more of this or that. Most tart recipes can be
modified. Cakes—no.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They rely more on
chemistry and exactly measures but it’s hard to mess up a pie.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Crust</b></div>
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Wheat…</div>
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Any pie crust recipe. I used one from my Fanny Farmer
cookbook and instead of a full 2 cups of unbleached flour, used ½ cup of whole
wheat flour and 1 ¾ cups of unbleached.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">or</b></div>
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Gluten free….Also made a gluten free flour mixed that tasted
heavenly and held together using 1 cup of tapioca starch, 1 cup of brown rice
flour and ½ cup of almond meal that I ground using raw almonds and then sifted
so it was all smooth. This with a pinch of salt and 12 tablespoons of ice cold
butter and water.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">then</b></div>
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Line little tartlet metal molds (bought mine at Sur le
Table) and bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 10 minutes or until they
look lightly done.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">In the meantime…</b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Blueberries </b></div>
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4 or so cups of fresh blueberries</div>
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1 cup of sugar (I used organic)</div>
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3 T cornstarch</div>
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1 cup water</div>
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1/8 teaspoon salt</div>
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(optional: a tablespoon or two of butter. I didn’t add it
but for butter lovers, you might want to)</div>
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Mix the sugar, cornstarch salt and water in a pot and cook
over very low heat until thickened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add
blueberries and cook a little more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turn
off heat but allow the mixture to stay in the pot and cool.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Crumb topping</b></div>
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Mix ¼ cup of flour and ¼ cup of brown sugar, mix, then add
two tablespoons of cold butter. Mix with your fingers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You want a crumbly texture. If the mixture
seems too buttery, add in some brown sugar, then flour. It’s hard to mess this
up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Complete and bake…</b></div>
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Now, you have a couple dozen partially baked tart shells, a
cooked blueberry mixture and a crumb topping. Scoop blueberries into the tart
shells so they are nicely rounded and once they’re all filled, sprinkle with
the crumb topping. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Bake a little more
until the crumb topping looks a little golden and the edge of the tarts are a
little golden, too. You can always use this to make one big plump pie and there’s
enough pie crust to make a lattice top instead of using crumbs. And you can also use a different fruit and the same ingredients. Up to you! Let
me know how it goes. Take a picture! And enjoy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
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Love, Barbara</div>Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-40313574877183504272012-08-11T07:17:00.005-07:002012-08-11T07:17:56.436-07:00New Yorker podcastDoes anyone listen to the New Yorker magazine's podcast? I just listened to Maile Meloy read a Laurie Colwin short story <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/2012/08/06/120806on_audio_meloy" target="_blank">here</a>. If you've never read Laurie Colwin, or even if you had, listening to Maile read this one is, as my son would say, chill.Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-54376060750697266242012-08-02T07:21:00.000-07:002012-08-02T07:21:10.621-07:00Steve Kemper & Bridget Hoida on Writers on Writing<a href="http://www.stevekemper.com/">Steve Kemper</a>, author of <i>A Labyrinth of Kingdoms</i> and <a href="http://www,bridgethoida.com/">Bridget Hoida</a>, author of <i>So L.A</i>. talk about their books and about writing.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.barbarademarcobarrett.com/writersonwriting/audio/Steve_Kemper-Bridget_Hoida-7_18_12.mp3">Download audio</a>.<br />
<br />
(Broadcast date: July 25, 2012)Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-55074729759992137092012-07-29T07:15:00.001-07:002012-07-29T07:15:12.457-07:00Dinah Lenney at TEDMemoirist Dinah Lenney was recently a guest author at the Pen on Fire Writers Salon here in Corona del Mar. She also just did a TED x USC talk. Here it is. I love TED. And I love Dinah.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DBo-hCrKfLQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-50208042744069034252012-07-23T09:52:00.001-07:002012-07-23T10:36:44.118-07:00Camille Noe Pagan & Janet Groth<br />
<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 16px; margin-right: 16px; margin-top: 8px; min-width: 0px; width: 653px;">
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Forgetting-Camille-Pagan/dp/B007F7VKXC/">Camille Noe Pagan</a> talks to Marrie Stone about her novel, "The Art of<br />
Forgetting," how journalism feeds her fiction, the discipline of writing<br />
with children, and the mysteries of brain injuries. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Receptionist-Education-New-Yorker/dp/1616201312/">Janet Groth</a> joins<br />
in the second half, talking about her years working at The New<br />
Yorker in her memoir, "The Receptionist: An Education at The New<br />
Yorker."</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
<a href="http://www.barbarademarcobarrett.com/writersonwriting/audio/Camille-Noe-Pagan_Janet-Groth_7-11-12.mp3">Download audio.</a> </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
(Broadcast date: July 11, 2012)</div>
</div>Marriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15233577055388334580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-24336500946871389162012-07-23T08:21:00.001-07:002012-07-23T08:22:15.651-07:00Litstack & Robert Olen ButlerHave you visited <a href="http://litstack.com/?p=8205" target="_blank">Litstack</a>? Here's a cool review of Robert Olen Butler's writing book, From Where You Dream. Robert was on the show a couple of times talking about this book and talking about his newest novel. Play particular attention to what the reviewer has to say about writing using the senses. As he says Chekhov says, don't talk about how the moon was shining; show it glinting on a piece of glass.Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-66762010310666603302012-07-19T11:38:00.001-07:002012-07-20T12:22:57.722-07:00This Sunday at Laguna Beach BooksThis Sunday, July 22, my students from the Literary Posse and Writers Block Party and I will be reading from works in progress at <a href="http://www.lagunabeachbooks.com/">Laguna Beach Books</a> on Pacific Coast Hwy. in Laguna Beach. Join us at 4 p.m. for good words, good food, and good company, in one of the best indie bookstores anywhere, and it's free. Hope to see you then!<br />
<br />
<br />
Also, this just in from Sonia Marsh:
Write a 1,000 word or less "My Gutsy Story" to be featured on my blog and each month the winner gets to pick a prize from our list of sponsors. The story is about something that either changed you, or made your life take a different direction. Click <a href="http://soniamarsh.com/my-gutsy-story-contest">here</a> for more information.Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-27429843507872359502012-07-18T14:32:00.000-07:002012-07-18T14:50:10.259-07:00Last night's event with Jess Walter, Beautiful Ruins authorJess Walter's new novel, <i>Beautiful Ruins</i>, has been out for a few weeks and doing great. Does he get no bad reviews? One writer present, Pat Kersey, commented that he never saw an author with such positive reviews. Here are a few photos from last night. Thanks to C.J.Bahnsen for most of the photos, and Travis Barrett for a few others. If you were present, please share what you remember about last night. If you want to hear the radio interviews I did with Jess, go to Writersonwriting.blogspot.com, enter "Walter" in the search box and both should come up.
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<br />Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-33951907529462774892012-07-16T10:12:00.002-07:002012-07-16T10:12:24.959-07:00Eva Gabrielsson & Carin Gerhardsen<br />
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Stieg Larsson's partner of 31 years, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/There-Things-About-Stieg-Larsson/dp/1609804104/">Eva Gabrielsson</a>, talks with Marrie Stone about her memoir, "There Are Things I Want You To Know (About Stieg Larsson and Me)." She shares her pain of his sudden loss, memories of their years together, and her intimate decision to share their story. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gingerbread-House-1-Carin-Gerhardsen/dp/9187173239/">Carin Gerhardsen</a>, author of the Hammarby Series, talks about her writing process, carrying a storyline across several novels, and her methods of sustaining a mystery and characters. She is the author of "The Gingerbread House. </div>
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<a href="http://www.barbarademarcobarrett.com/writersonwriting/audio/Eva-Gabrielsson_Carin-Gerhardsen_6-27-12.mp3">Download audio. </a></div>
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(Broadcast date: June 27, 2012)</div>
</div>Marriehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15233577055388334580noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-75960401138210832042012-07-14T13:22:00.000-07:002012-07-25T11:41:29.976-07:00Joan Schenkar talks about writing biography and Patricia Highsmith<a href="http://www.joanschenkar.com/">Joan Schenkar</a>, biographer, playwright and author of <i>The Talented Miss Highsmith</i>, talks about writing biography and Patricia Highsmith on Writers on Writing. If you've read or seen <i>The Talented Mr. Ripley</i> or <i>Strangers on a Train</i>, then you know Highsmith's work, because she wrote both. And Schenkar's biography is one of the best I've read. It's a literary biography. There's much to learn here about the form.<br />
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<a href="http://www.barbarademarcobarrett.com/writersonwriting/audio/Joan-Schenkar_6-20-12.mp3">Download audio</a>.<br />
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(Broadcast date: June 20, 2012)<br />
<br />Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-27031780992660985992012-07-12T13:09:00.000-07:002012-07-12T13:09:34.990-07:00More on rejectionCan there ever be too much to say about rejection? I pulled a book of essays off my shelf this morning, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Habit-David-Huddle/dp/0874516684" target="_blank">The Writing Habit</a>, by David Huddle. I bought this book back in 1991 and have held onto it ever since because of the gems between the covers. This morning I read the essay, "Let's Say You Wrote Badly," in which Huddle compares baseball with writing. I love baseball so I kept reading. He talks about how baseball players deal with rejection, how there is no baseball pitcher who has ever not given up a home run or a batter who has not struck out. I like this paragraph:<br />
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"And what more than failure--the strike out, the crucial home run given up, the manuscript criticized and rejected--is more likely to produce caution or timidity? An instinctive response to painful experience is to avoid the behavior that produced the pain. To function at the level of excellence required for survival, writers like athletes must go against instinct, must absorb their failures and become stronger, must endlessly repeat the behavior that produced the pain."<br />
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Why do I like this paragraph so much? Because that's how it is: We writers keep repeating the behavior that produced the pain and sometimes we hit a home run, but too often we strike out. But we keep playing, we stay in the game, because there's always the chance we'll score, and after all, we love playing.<br />
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There are so many other good essays in the book. Grab one from wherever you can.Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-74159134642566005412012-07-11T13:10:00.000-07:002012-07-25T11:42:25.068-07:00Jess Walter, author of "Beautiful Ruins," on Writers on Writing<a href="http://www.jesswalter.com/">Jess Walter</a>, author of the new novel, <i>Beautiful Ruins</i>, discusses his writing and work for the entire hour. I'm ecstatic that he will be a guest at the Pen on Fire Writers Salon on July 17, 2012. I loved his last novel, <i>The Financial Lives of the Poets</i>, and I'm reading <i>The Zero</i> now. We have only a couple of seats left so if you're interested, act fast. More info <a href="http://www.penonfire.com/speakerseries">here</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.barbarademarcobarrett.com/writersonwriting/audio/Jess_Walter-6_13_12.mp3">Download audio</a>.<br />
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(Broadcast date: June 13, 2012)<br />
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<br />Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10091286.post-76555062221401713182012-07-06T17:22:00.001-07:002012-07-06T17:22:57.204-07:00Ha-va-ii, not HawaiiA few days ago we came home after spending a week on the Big Island (Hawaii). I don't know what I expected, exactly. I've only ever been to Hawaii on my way to someplace else. At the Honolulu airport I walked outside, felt the humidity, and got back on the plane.<br />
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The Big Island is a geological marvel. Spent Tues to Weds in the rainforest on the eastern side of the island and now my favorite color is yellow green / chartreuse / lime green because it's the color of the rain forest. We walked in the rain to Akaka falls, a 400 foot or so waterfall, and it was so worth it. I remember every inch of that walk. I remember the startling shades of green. There must be a million.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKc0mToeoaAI9i3RtLqs6TuNh6V1gAV-dPUGaMXPadW7HyUGp8jb3TjtFyY6v7aSvMlckPIHMIgnnXIOORSMCq2Uh0_1CCAvKyCpl3P4dBY6OCHztYYFHwAznV1q4e8TrqnATnQ/s1600/IMG_1096.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKc0mToeoaAI9i3RtLqs6TuNh6V1gAV-dPUGaMXPadW7HyUGp8jb3TjtFyY6v7aSvMlckPIHMIgnnXIOORSMCq2Uh0_1CCAvKyCpl3P4dBY6OCHztYYFHwAznV1q4e8TrqnATnQ/s640/IMG_1096.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>Barbara DeMarco-Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11407113008901754361noreply@blogger.com1