Year: 2012

This just in — and it will give you a strong sense of what we will be talking and writing about. See you soon. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

First of all, it is filling up fast so if you want a spot, call them up.  Also, I forgot to mention: please bring, aside from the reading and writing and your notebook, a brown-bag lunch so we can have a ‘working lunch’ around noontime. Thanks, and I’m looking forward to seeing you all very soon! Last time I had a blast teaching this class, but it went so quickly. So much was left unsaid, and I want everyone to write their on-the-spot assignments at a much more leisurely pace. This longer format class will allow that to happen.  I’ve also allowed some extra time so we can all talk about things like writing groups (and how to find a good writing group), pursuing a freelancing career, launching your first book projects, etc. Also, in other news, my interview with TC Boyle will soon be up in Catamaran Literary Reader’s…

Hello, Cactuseaters readers. Lots and lots of news to share with you during this busy month.  For starters, I just found out that the short nonfiction piece I’m going to read at the San Jose State event is going to be published (!)  which means that the talk will be a kind of ‘sneak preview.’ I’m pretty sure the publishing event won’t happen until several weeks after the talk so you’ll get the first look if you go to my event with my wife, Amy Ettinger.  I”ll share the name of the publication and the particulars as the date approaches. Right around the same time, I found out that The Cactus Eaters, at this late hour, is going to be reviewed in a national magazine, which is really great news, too. Eager to see what they’ll say. Also, I just had a really good phone conversation with one of my…

Hi everyone — just wanted to give you and update on my upcoming class in late August. We’ll do some writing exercises and discussion, we’ll talk about ‘reading like writers,’ and then do some in-depth, craft-based readings of a few great travel and place pieces. My list of writers, so far: John Jeremiah Sullivan, Annie Dillard, Tom Bissell, Terry Tempest Williams (and others.) Also, at the suggestion of two former students, I’ll have some practical writing-life material too (encouraging stories, as well as horror stories, from the the freelance world, publishing, etc.) I’ll talk about a whole bunch of stuff that I would never even think about posting to this blog, including some things that will make your ears fall right off when you hear them. In other news, for the first time since hiking the Pacific Crest Trail,  I consumed a piece of prickly pear cactus. This time, it…

For me, this magazine article by David Remnick was like a gift at the end of a productive but drawn-out day. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

hi everyone –I just wanted you to know that I’ll be teaching an expanded version of my place writing/travel writing class once more at the Capitola Book Cafe this summer. The class is set for August 25 at the Book Cafe  from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  I am putting together a list of readings and preliminary assignments. Last class was wonderful but the time passed by so quickly (only two hours.) This new format will give us much more breathing room and allow you to delve more deeply into each exercise and exploration. Bring a sandwich and brown bag for a ‘working lunch,’ and I’ll see you all soon. Almost forgot to mention that you should register directly through the Book Cafe (and not through this Cactuseaters blog.) http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I’ve become involved with this brand-new magazine based right here in Santa Cruz, CA. The first issue — which is forthcoming this fall — will have all kinds of surprises, including my Q & A with one of my favorite fiction writers, but I should keep my mouth shut for the time being and let you find out for yourself. Look for it in an indie bookstore soon. Anyhow, if you take a look at the link I enclosed, you will see a Catamaran video with all of us gathered at the beautifully refurbished Salz tannery site, which is now a major center for the arts on the Central Coast. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

It’s official. We’re now part of the line-up for the fall season. Here is the announcement that has been posted on the Web. Hope to see you all there, and to clarify, this will be in San Jose. We will both read brand new material. (no Cactus Eaters recitations.) I am excited and nervous.  I’m thinking of reading two short, somewhat related pieces, one from a book-length project, and the other a stand-alone essay. http://cactuseaters.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? I got plenty of strange looks from people who saw me reading this on the bus in Santa Cruz. They must have figured it was a self-help book in reverse. In one sense it is. This memoir does not provide any soft and fuzzy pathway to creativity.  Winterson’s adoptive mother is an accidental mentor who shaped her daughter’s language while providing a reason for her creativity. The mom — identified here as “Mrs. Winterson” — gave her something to work against. What really struck me here is the amount of light Winterson lets in. The ultra-religious mom is frightening — she sometimes locks her daughter in a coal hole — but never comes across as a monster. Worth re-reading to see how she pulls this off. I would have gone through this a third time but it was borrowed and…

Hi, everyone.  I am very excited to announce that my wife, Amy Ettinger, will read with me on October 10, 7 p.m, at the Schiro Room, adjacent to the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies, located in Martin Luther King, Jr. Library at SJSU, not to be confused, under any circumstances, with  the Steinbeck Museum down in Salinas, although my mentioning of this distinction will probably cause even more confusion.  A reception will follow. Amy Ettinger has written for the New York Times, New York Magazine, the Huffington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Sierra, Backpacker and other publications. Her personal essays delve into issues ranging from parenthood, childhood, mortality, creative competition among spouses and growing up on “the other side” of Silicon Valley. She will read a selection from her recent work. I am a former Steinbeck Fellow, an occasional teacher and freelance travel writer, the institutional voice of…