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April 07, 2023I Just Got Published - So, Why Don't I Feel Great?
When I was 18, I resolved to be a published writer one day. It was something I’d dreamed of even before then. As a younger teenager I wrote simple books inspired in varying degrees by The Outsiders. ...
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February 09, 2022
I Miss You, Setsubun
ひさびさ ("it's been ages"), Open Book reader! Thanks for stopping by for another post. I hope things are going well for you these days. On my end, life has been wack. And yes, I'm aware of how old ...
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June 03, 2019I Promise You, It's Fiction.
Full disclosure, I had another post planned to kick off my Writer in Residency here on Open Book but I decided to change topics after seeing a write-up/review of my forthcoming short story collection. ...
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December 18, 2020I Wrote 100,000 Words in a Month: Or When Productivity is Really Crip Grief
(This is not a ‘How To’ article. This is also not an inspiring story about a disabled person doing an extraordinary thing. There is nothing extraordinary here. There is only a dispatch from a place ...
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March 27, 2017I’m an Immigrant and I’m Going to Take Your Job
A few months ago somebody I know—a Polish immigrant—tried to convince me—an Iranian immigrant—that immigrants are taking all the jobs. Putting aside that this assertion has been proven wrong, ...
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September 21, 2023I’ve been invited to present at a literary festival, now what?
From the Brigadoon-esque setting of The Eden Mills Writer Festival to the hustle and bustle of TIFA Kids, it’s literary festival season. Everyone loves an invite to a party, but make sure you have all ...
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June 01, 2021Ian Hamilton on Digging Deep into Family Stories & Secrets for His Compelling New Novel, Bonnie Jack
Ian Hamilton, known for his two beloved series, the Ava Lee mysteries and their companion Uncle Chow Tung books, is branching out to new territory with a stand-alone novel that delves deep into a family's ...
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April 10, 2019Ian Thomas Shaw on Drawing on his Work and Travel in the Middle East to Write His Debut Novel
Ian Thomas Shaw's debut novel, Quill of the Dove (Guernica Editions), follows French journalist Marc Taragon, a seasoned pro who has been reporting on and from the Middle East for decades. Just as he ...
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June 06, 2023Iconic Activist Marjorie Beaucage on How Circus School, Sante Fe, & De-Cluttering Lead to Her Debut Memoir
Marjorie Beaucage has spent her life telling stories and helping others tell theirs: as a teacher, community organizer, activist, and later, an acclaimed filmmaker, she has wield storytelling as a tool ...
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March 28, 2014If Not DRM, What Then? (Part II)
A few people, some of them writers, have written to me, wondering about the fuss surrounding DRM. They very much want their work protected from copying, and didn’t realize a kind of hysteria exists ...