A World of Speculation

The Secular Case for Christmas

My friend forwarded this from the New York Times, in which self-described secularist Laura Miller explains why she enjoys The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe every Christmas, and by extension, Christmas itself.My friend was saddened and disappointed by the...

How novels get started

On Aug 17, 2008, at 2:48 PM, Anastasia K. Bond wrote:Fr. George gave me your basket! Not quite sure why he was so desperate to unload it, but you drove away just as I came looking for you. I can bring it next Sunday, or you can swing by sometime to pick it...

Another blog

The last thing I could justify, since I post here so seldom, is starting another blog, but I offer the excuse that it’s a group blog, it’s a finely focused niche topic, and it’s fun.In that spirit, I offer you the Crones’ Old Book Reviews.The...

Murderer’s Mom — the pitch (in progress)

Grace asks: “I get more and more curious about your book. Do you have a blog entry somewhere back there that talks about what it’s about, what it’s called and all the rest of that? If not, do you feel like doing one just to fill me...

Word count, May 2

Got back to the story for the first time since before Pascha. It was OK to skip Holy Friday, Holy Saturday and Pascha, but Monday through Thursday of Bright Week? I had a lot of other stuff to do, but also, it’s resistance against this painfully shitty first...

When the poet writes a novel

From Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men.”No,” he said, and it was another voice, quiet and easy and coming slow and from a distance, “I’m not here to ask for anything today. I’m taking the day off, and I’ve come...