Craft and Creativity
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Once More, With Feeling: On Repetition in Poetry
If I had to listen to one piece of music forever, it might be “When David Heard,” by English Renaissance composer Thomas Tomkins, as performed by a vocal group called the Gesualdo Six. Over hundreds of listens, I’ve come to feel that “When David Heard” has a lot to teach us about the power of repetition in…
Writing About Your Obsessions
Close Study: “One Arm” by Tennessee Williams Read it here, in Internet Archive. Tennessee Williams is regarded as one of the best playwrights of the 20th century, and rightfully so. But what makes his plays so amazing—their tension, their neurotic and conflicted characters, and their lonesome, complicated settings—can be found just as readily in his…
In Praise of a Front-Loaded Nonfiction Book
I learned a lot about structuring a nonfiction book this year, from reading the psychology bestseller No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz. I can’t recommend the book itself highly enough, to everyone. One of its jacket blurbs reads, “this may be the most transformational book you’ll ever read.” That has been my experience, even if I wish…