how do you write a short story?

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I don’t entirely know, even though I wrote a book of them, and I’m not just saying that to be modest. Even though I’m happy with the way a lot of my stories turned out, I felt like they were all little leaps off cliffs of varying heights that just ended whenever the ground appeared.

But I’m going to do my best to fake expertise this Sunday at the West Hollywood Book Fair, where I’ll join Tod Goldberg, Holiday Reinhorn and Charles Yu to discuss “The Short and the Short of It: Writing the Short Story.”

You’ll also find folks like Aimee Bender, Bernard Cooper, Luis Rodriguez and Terry Wolverton hanging out at this book fair, along with great local presses and community organizations, so it’s a good event all around. As if a Sunday in the park with churros and frozen lemonade weren’t enough.

***

West Hollywood Book Fair
Sunday, Sept. 17, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
West Hollywood Park
647 N. San Vicente Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90069
“The Short and the Short of It”:
11 a.m.-noon in the Fiction Pavilion
http://www.westhollywoodbookfair.org

***

Speaking of writing, I’ve had two Very Good Writing Days this past week. Usually Very Good Writing Days correspond directly to the amount of caffeine I’ve consumed immediately prior. I’m like a Starbucks Hemingway. But the weird thing is, I stopped drinking coffee five whole days ago (not forever, I just want the high to be sufficiently high when I need it, so I’m taking a little hiatus to decrease my tolerance).

So now I’m inclined to attribute my Very Good Writing Days (which, I should note, are not necessarily the same as Days of Very Good Writing) to the lack of caffeine. This new natural high thing. Or maybe it’s just that chapter 9 came to a nice climactic close, and I always like starting new chapters, which is what I did today. Huh.

Comments

Schrodinger's Kitten said…
Nothing against your book fair info, but seeing those gourmet churros makes this post very surreal.
September 13, 2006 at 11:51 AM
Cheryl said…
By surreal do you mean...delicious?
September 13, 2006 at 2:10 PM
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