presence

.

Blas Manuel de Luna

Look who's been added to the blogroll! BMD

My Flickr Meets My Blogger

Mike in Iowa City Bird Blind
Originally uploaded by dontoine.

Finally. Here's Savitz watching a nuthatch dive-bomb his eyeballs.

Mandate?

Simply defined a man date is two heterosexual men socializing without the crutch of business or sports.

The Grey Lady outdoes the Onion with this one.

Springtime in the LBC

What would happen if all of your favorite lit blogs got together and...um, got together?

The Lit Blog Co-op

Check it out.

[thanks to Dan Wickett and the EWN for the hook-up.]

One More Frank

I remember a party at Joy Williams' house--she was visiting that semester--during my second year at the workshop. Frank was sitting on the couch, enjoying "a beer and a bump"--bottle of beer, shot of whisky, and we were all bullshitting about something or other.

A certain first-year student--of whom Frank was fond--asked him point-blank:

"What's the secret to writing a novel?"

It was one of those moments when you feel like the buzz has been completely killed. Frank smiled, though, and rescued the buzz while also dispensing some of the most powerful, useless, useful, stupid, brilliant advice I've ever heard on the subject.

"The secret? The secret? I'll tell you the secret!"

He lowered his voice.

"The secret to writing a novel is three things."

We leaned in.

"You've got to set it up. You've got to run it. And you've got to shut it down."

Now you all know.

Any guesses as to who the student was?

The Reign of Shit

Two minutes of Frank Conroy, from an introduction he gave years ago. [mp3, 832K]

.

Frank died yesterday. We are going to miss him very much.


[IWW Graduation, Spring 1999, Frank holding mustard packets and diplomas.]

Paul Ingram, of Prairie Lights Books, with a brief, perfect tribute.

Did somebody say AUTHOR PHOTO?

Author Photos

New blogrolee Tod Goldberg takes a look at some very special author photos.

On the same topic, the Ettlinger Effect:

Before:


After:

RIP Saul Bellow

more blogrolling

Paul Ingram, of Prairie Lights, has a new blog. [Fixed the link. It's called Mister Nouse]

And here's another dose of young Iowans, including old notes from Frank Conroy's workshop. V v good.

"Everyone Else" online

The Paris Review has posted my story, "Everyone Else" online, for your reading pleasure!

New to the blogroll...

Babies are Fireproof (03-04?) Iowa MFA mafiosos. Vicarious visions of yesteryears.

Added the Emerging Writers' Network a little while back. I love getting Dan Wickett's emails. The guy works hard getting the word out. Sign up, kids!

And Daniel Alarcon. Has a book coming out. Curtis Sittenfeld's book Prep is already out and blowing up on the NYT bestseller list. Holy shit.

I'm thinking of adding a bunch more emerging author homepages to my blogroll. Who has them? Anyone?

Self-promote, or shill your cronies, via comment...