Archive for January 2009
John Updike, 1932-2009
In case you didn’t hear, we lost John Updike this week. I haven’t read much of his work in years, and regrettably, I have yet to read any of his Rabbit books, but I read Couples, The Witches of Eastwick, and most of his short stories and poetry in college and liked them very much. …
Read MoreClara Susan Dicks and a couple pages too
Stephen King has written about the importance of a supportive spouse to a writer, and I couldn’t agree more. While on our honeymoon two years ago, I spent hours by the pool working on SOMETHING MISSING while my wife, Elysha, basked in the Bermuda rays. Yesterday our first child was born, a girl named Clara…
Read More25 Things
My friend, Kate, sent me a note entitled 25 Things via Facebook. Included was a list of 25 random facts pertaining to her with a request for me to reciprocate. I did, and I thought I’d post the list here as well. It occurs to me that some of these items would make for a…
Read MoreKind words
My editor sent me the first blurb about SOMETHING MISSING today, written by M. Ann Jacoby, author of LIFE AFTER GENIUS. She writes: “A quirky and endearing first novel that makes you wonder if that misplaced stick of butter or can of soup means there’s a burglar prowling your pantry. If that thief is Martin…
Read MoreThe end is in sight
Exciting news. I discovered how my latest book will end. I haven’t reached the last chapter yet, but in wrapping up a crucial chapter late last night, I caught a glimpse of how things might end for Milo. One moment I was clueless, and the next moment, I was not. I say might because I’m…
Read MorePieces of me
Nicholson Baker has a new book out, a non-fiction piece about World War II entitled Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization, and I heard him speak about it and other topics on a recent New York Public Library podcast. He said something quite interesting during the talk, which I…
Read MorePunctuation matters
It’s always so nice to find someone who shares the same pet peeves as me. This is why I was thrilled to find the “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks, a site dedicated to the excessive and pointless use quotation marks in the world. The posts, almost all including a photo, are quite amusing. My favorite…
Read MoreGood week
A couple of days of good news on the book front. Yesterday my editor informed me that we made a deal with Japanese publisher Random House Kodansha for publication of Something Missing in Japan. Just think: My words translated into Japanese characters. I must get a hold of a copy once it hits the Japanese bookstores,…
Read MoreNicholson Baker and me
My book club meets today to discuss Nicolson Baker’s The Size of Thoughts. It was my turn to choose the book, and Taryn, my agent, turned me onto Baker’s work during my initial revisions of SOMETHING MISSING. Specifically, she suggested I read Baker’s first novel, The Mezzanine, and later, The Fermata, which she described as…
Read MoreI have no idea what pants I’m wearing
A friend of mine recently noted that I was wearing sweat pants out of the house. “And?” I asked. “I just would never wear sweat pants in public,” she said. “And I know that most people don’t.” Getting beyond the questionable validity of my friend’s statement and the veiled insult that her comment implied, I…
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