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Happy Birthday, West Virginia! Now, ready…set…read!

Happy Birthday, West Virginia! Now, ready…set…read!

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Earlier this week I received an intriguing Twitter follow from @WVReads150, a movement of which I was unaware. Turns out that my home state is turning 150 in 2013, and the West Virginia Library Commission, the West Virginia Center for the Book and libraries across the state are launching the “West Virginia Reads 150” challenge in celebration. Here’s a blurb from the initiative’s website: The yearlong reading initiative encourages West Virginians to read 150 books in any format (printed book,…

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NaNoPlaMo. NaNoWriMo. NaNoEdMo.

NaNoPlaMo. NaNoWriMo. NaNoEdMo.

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National Novel Writing Month is over, and I did it: 50,000 words in 30 days. What I came up with remains to be seen. I did zero editing throughout the month, only churning away at the word count. I’m nowhere close to being finished with the first draft. (50K words do not a novel make, folks.) But I’ve reached the point in the story that I’m not ready to move forward without reviewing what’s been written, although I haven’t even…

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The Sue Heck School of Perseverance

The Sue Heck School of Perseverance

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We're a little over halfway through National Novel Writing Month, and I'm proud to say that I've kept on task so far. I had  a strong start and g0t well ahead of the daily goal of 1,667 words. An election here, a human rights gala to attend there, and I allowed myself perhaps one too many days of writing laziness. Hey, it happens to the best of us. But I've managed to get back on track and am hovering right…

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What’s on your ideal bookshelf?

What’s on your ideal bookshelf?

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So today I discovered a new book titled My Ideal Bookshelf, a coffee-table book featuring 100 notable folks discussing exactly what the title suggests. Here’s a little blurb about it: The books that we choose to keep and display—let alone read—can say a lot about who we are and how we see ourselves. In My Ideal Bookshelf, one hundred leading cultural figures, including writers Chuck Klosterman, Jennifer Egan, and Michael Chabon, musicians Patti Smith and Thurston Moore, chefs and food…

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Well, I’ll be a son of a bitch!

Well, I’ll be a son of a bitch!

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The annals of NaNoWriMo history are cluttered with people who failed (a term I use loosely) to reach 50,000 words and many who never even started, and that’s just fine. It’s a lot of pressure. We’re closing in on the end of week one now, and I’ve managed to stay a little ahead of the game thanks to a kick-ass first day. Tuesday was the only day I didn’t quite reach goal. Something or other was going on. What could…

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NaNoWriMoUhOh

NaNoWriMoUhOh

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November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo as we cool kids call it. The gist is to write your tukhus off the entire month, with the goal of having a 50,000-word novel in the can by Nov. 30. If you read my last post, you’ll know that I took my sweet time with my first book. But now I’m accountable to people that only make money when I do, so the luxury of ease is one I no longer…

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Writing Process? What the heck is that?

Writing Process? What the heck is that?

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Authors are routinely asked about their writing process. Everyone wants to know how books are written, how thoughts and ideas move from inside the writer’s head to characters on a computer screen. I’ve read that Junot Diaz goes into the bathroom and writes perched on the edge of his tub. Anne Rice has a preferred font size. My pal J.H. Trumble is a clutter-hater and spends a lot of time cleaning to get in the mood. So, what is my…

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Welcome, y’all!

Welcome, y’all!

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Being from Appalachia, I can appreciate a good “y’all.” How are you? My name is Matthew. That’s me on the right there. I’m a writer of novels, stories, poems And screenplays…none of which you’ve read yet. But that will change soon enough, because after a tedious, lengthy, gut-wrenching search for an agent (okay, actually it was none of those things), I landed with the incomparable Stephen Fraser at the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in New York. He’s great. Google…

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