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Poetry Contest!
Do you write poems? (Of course you do. Everyone secretly writes poems.) Newfound, the journal for which I edit nonfiction, is hosting their first-ever poetry contest to be guest-judged by none other...
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“The Taxidermist”
This morning I am very excited to have had another story published, this time at Real South. “The Taxidermist” is a story about Vernon, a retired, vegetarian taxidermist persuaded to make a griffin...
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Flash Fiction @ Hothouse Magazine
I am tickled pink to announce that I am the new Flash Fiction/Literary Arts Editor at Hothouse Magazine! I couldn’t be more thrilled, because I really dig flash fiction. It’s the espresso of the...
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My First Review!
Yesterday a friend emailed me this fragment of a review by Kirsten McIlvenna at NewPages.com : E.D. Watson’s “Crescent City Connection” has the classic elements of an enthralling story: suspense,...
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Why bother?
My “real” job (i.e. the one that pays), is in the public library. Mostly, this job is pretty great. I get money in exchange for being in the library, where I’m inclined to be anyway, and the Dewey...
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Move Over, Maupassant! (Another) Parisian Affair
For several years now, I’ve been involved in a love affair with Guy de Maupassant. (I have an unfortunate habit of falling for dead men.) It began when I heard “The Parisian Affair” on Selected Shorts....
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2014 is Already Awesome!
Today, I am beyond psyched to have my story, “Window Washer” published as Narrative Magazine’s Story of the Week! A super-grande thank you to all of the amazing folks at Narrative for featuring my...
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Poem for a Perfect Day
Today, in spite of the January-ness of the calendar, it’s 77 degrees and sunny — a day too beautiful for prose. So I offer you this: a poem by one of my favorite poets, e. e. cummings’s, “i thank You...
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This Blog Post Makes Me Uncomfortable
Last week I was invited to speak about my most recent story to a university class. When the topic of race came up (which the story confronts only obliquely), I suddenly felt as though I had a belly...
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Why I’ll Never Be Part of a “Writers Under 30″ List (or Any List Based on Age)
Yesterday I was emailed by a well-known literary journal that has published my work. “We’re putting together our ‘Writers Under 30′ issue and didn’t want to neglect your work,” the email said. “Are you...
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Book Lab: Judging a Book By Its Cover
Last month, my friend and library coworker, Jennifer, posted about the inaugural experiment of Book Lab, our unconventional book club. In that experiment, we blindfolded ourselves, chose a book at...
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Book Lab: Judging a Book by Its Cover, Part 2
If book jackets are designed to appeal to the aesthetic of a specific readership, as determined by our first Book Lab experiment, then what appeals to us, individually, as readers? In our follow-up...
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Book Lab: Judging a Book By Its Cover Is (Mostly) Legit
That old axiom about judging books by their covers? It’s bullcrap. You can totally do it—and with a reasonable degree of success. That’s what our most recent Book Lab experiment proved: most of the...
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Book Lab 4: In Which the Pulitzer Prize is (Mostly) Legitimized
The beautiful thing about Book Lab is that we’re all nerds of a different feather. That is to say, some of us are into nonfiction. Some of us love thrillers. Some of us love memoirs. Some of us read a...
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I am Speaks-Fluently
Driving home from the supermarket this morning, I heard this read over the radio. It affected me so much that I accidentally stopped at a green light, chest tight and eyes all full of water. I’ve...
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Saving Nicholson Baker (from the Trash Can) and Taking Him to Bed
The only really terrible thing about working at a library is something most people don’t know about. It’s a necessary evil that can sour the stomach of any true book lover: weeding. This is an ugly...
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