Books:
"Plain and Simple: A Journey to the Amish," Sue Bender
"The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World," Lewis Hyde
Article:
"Fascinated to Presume: In Defense of Fiction," Zadie Smith
Rx for writers (under construction)
When you need to know how others wrote it:
January 1, 1900
Book:
"A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Readering, and Life," George Saunders
Online:
Paris Review interviews with authors
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When you need funding:
January 1, 1900
Online:
City of Chicago Dept. of Cultural Affairs and Special Events
Illinois Arts Council
National Endowment for the Arts writing fellowships; translation fellowships; list of state & regional arts councils
When you're starting out, insecure, or jealous or anxious:
January 1, 1900
Books:
"Writing Past Dark: Envy, Fear, Distraction, and Other Dilemmas in the Writer's Life," Bonnie Friedman
"Letters to a Young Poet," Rainer Maria Rilke
"Letters to a Young Artist: Straight-Up Advice on Making a Life in the Arts-For Actors, Performers, Writers, and Artists of Every Kind," Anna Deavere Smith
Articles:
"A New Year Brings Fresh Author Envy," Nancy Johnson
"Shitty First Drafts," Anne Lamott
Podcast:
When you're looking for an agent:
January 1, 1900
Roseanne Kenny
Online:
Jane Friedman: publishing & marketing advice & links
Manuscript Wish List (what agents and editors want)
And, if you want to contact a small publisher directly:
Community of Literary Magazines and Presses directory
Six steps to get your query letter to an agent out of of the slush pile
Memoirs and essay collections written in fragments and small stories (list that accompanied my Jan. 26, 2022 class via Park Ridge Public Library)
January 1, 1900
Shifting the Silence, Etel Adnan
Of Colour, Katherine Agyman Agard
Companion to an Untold Story, Marcia Aldrich
Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, Dorothy Allison
Berlin Childhood around 1900, Walter Benjamin
Notes from No-Man's Land; Having and Being Had, Eula Biss
The Book of Imaginary Beings, Jorge Luis Borges
I Remember, Joe Brainard
Decreation (multi genre), Anne Carson
No Relation, Paula Carter
The Crying Book, Heather Christle
On the Home Front, Mary Jo Clark as told to Jack Clark
Paris Vagabond, Jean-Paul Clebert
The Devil Never Sleeps, Andrei Codrescu
This Story Will Change, Elizabeth Crane
The Memory of Fire Trilogy: Genesis, Faces and Masks, and Century of the Wind; Eduardo Galeano
Heating and Cooling, Beth Ann Fennelly
Presentimiento: A Life in Dreams, Harrison Candelaria Fletcher
Little Labors, Rivka Ricki Galchen
Colored People: A Memoir, Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Woman and Nature, Susan Griffin
Still Life With a Bridle, Zbigniew Herbert
I Remember King Kong (The Boxer), Denis Hirson
A Bestiary, Lily Hoang
The Book of Resemblances; The Book of Margins; Edmond Jabes
Trespasses, Lacy Johnson
The Folded Clock: A Diary, Heidi Julavits
Wife/Daughter/Self: A Memoir in Essays, Beth Kephart
The Periodic Table, Primo Levi
Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life, Yiyun Li
Later: My Life at the Edge of the World, Paul Lisicky
Selected Cronicas, Clarice Lispector
Sidewalks, Valeria Luiselli
Socialist Realism, Trisha Low
300 Arguments, Sarah Manguso
How to Stop Time, Ann Marlowe
A Leak in the Heart, Faye Moskowitz
Bluets; Argonauts; Maggie Nelson
Still No Word from You: Notes in the Margin, Peter Orner (10/22)
I Remember, Georges Perec
Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankine
Intimate: An American Photo Album, Paisley Rekdal
Late Migrations, Margaret Renkl
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, Amy Krouse Rosenthal
100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write, Sarah Ruhl
Sex Talks to Girls, Maureen Seaton
Unbearable Splendor, Sun Yung Shin
A Postcard Memoir, Lawrence Sutin
A Three Dog Life; Safekeeping: Some True Stories from a Life, Abigail Thomas
FIve Plots, Erica Trabold
My Life as a Foreign Country, Brian Turner
Micrograms, Nicole Walker
The Suicide Index: Putting My Father's Death in Order, Joan Wickersham
When you need to know how to write it...
January 1, 1900
Books:
"Narrative Design: Working with Imagination, Craft, and Form," Madison Smartt Bell
"Turning Life into Fiction," Robin Hemley
"The Way of the Writer: Reflections on the Art and Craft of Storytelling," Charles Johnson
"A Stranger's Journey: Race, Identity & Narrative Craft in Writing," David Mura
Article:
"Psychic Distance: what it is and how to use it," Emma Darwin (with help from John Gardner)
When you're out of ideas:
January 1, 1900
Books:
"I Remember," Joe Brainard (imitate his lists)
"The Artist's Way: A Spritual Path to Higher Creativity," Julia Cameron
"Writing Down the Bones," Natalie Goldberg
"Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life," Anne Lamott
"Writing for Your Life: Discovering the Story of Your Life's Journey," Deena Metzger
Online:
"On Keeping a Notebook," Joan Didion
When you're feeling disorganized:
January 1, 1900
Books:
How to Organize Your Work & Your Life, Robert Moskowitz
The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination & Enjoying Guilt-Free Play, Neil Fiore
Live video: London Writers' Salon free Zoom write-alongs four times a day, five days a week
Online resources:
Freedom distraction blocker
Time-management apps & other resources for ADHD adults
32 Tools and Apps Freelance Writers Swear By