Blog Posts & Publications - Writing

Book Review

Notes on How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens

I find it interesting, though, that now, months later, I’m looking at the passages I highlighted and find that the slip box itself is only mentioned once. It seems that for me there were other things in this book that I found more valuable. Looking through my notes, what I see is not a book about taking notes, but rather a book about how to learn and how to think about what we learn.

Apr 3, 2021

Blog Post

The Human Story

The human story always matters more. The human story is always what we relate to more. And building a better human story for ourselves in real life matters most of all.

Sep 27, 2020

Blog Post

Procrastination

I've been thinking a lot lately about writing more regularly on my blog. Of course this involves a lot of wondering what I'd write about, thinking about why I'd want to have a blog at all, and a whole lot of procrastination.

Sep 26, 2020

Blog Post

My New Typewriter

I am not very good at typing on a typewriter. I have to press the keys really hard and my pinkies and ring fingers are not always up to the job. They are weak and I find myself retyping the letters "a" and "s" and "l" over and over. The scenes in movies where people are typing on old typewriters using only their index fingers make a whole lot more sense now.

Feb 17, 2020

Blog Post

Funny, Not Funny

I've been doing writing exercises from the book The 3 a.m. Epiphany by Brian Kitely. It's my favorite book of exercises, they always challenge me and, in the past, I've come up with some great stories by going through them. This morning, though, I completely struck out.

Jan 30, 2020

Blog Post

On Curation

I love being surrounded by books, having all those minds and stories to dive into and learn things from. But I have a couple of shelves in my office next to my desk where I rotate out a smaller group of books that I want to have immediate access to. These are the ones that feed whatever I'm currently interested in and represent not only aspirations but interests and passions.

Oct 8, 2019

Book Review

The Western Wind

Harvey's brilliance lies in her ability to humanize and complicate her characters, to give them lives and loves and losses, jealousies and pain and secrets.

Dec 25, 2018

Blog Post

From The 3 a.m. Epiphany by Brian Kiteley

...the best fiction...

Jun 9, 2018

Book Review

The Overneath

In this fantastical collection, flawed characters face the unintended consequences of their actions.

Nov 26, 2017

Book Review

Beast: A Novel

A deeply philosophical tale that explores the grey areas between reality and fantasy.

Sep 7, 2017

Blog Post

Morning Pages

Last week was a tough week for creative work. I had family coming in from out of town and I hosted dinner for 18 on Friday, which means my creative work really was just cooking. Which is fun for me. Especially since I was trying out a couple of new recipes this year (and they were successful!).

Aug 11, 2016

Book Review

The Wake: A Novel

Powerless, damaged, and damned, Buccmaster of Holland is an unsettling character and his story is as disturbingly human as they come.

Sep 21, 2015

Book Review

Up the Hill to Home

Yacovissi shines in her descriptions of daily life, whether that life is taking place in Civil War-era Washington as Jubal Early and his Confederate troops are closing in, or in the crowded mid-1930s household that Lillie calls home as the book begins.

Jul 1, 2015

Interview

An Interview with Contributor, Rick DeMarinis

We recently interviewed Rick DeMarinis, whose story “Afternoon in Byzantium” ran in The Antioch Review, 2014 summer all-fiction issue and garnered the Review recognition as a finalist in the fiction category of the 2015 National Magazine Awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors.

Mar 18, 2015

Blog Post

Elizabeth Gilbert's Magic Lessons Podcast

I just spent pretty much all day listening to Elizabeth' Gilbert's Magic Lessons podcast. I highly recommend checking it out. Especially episode 12 where she talks with Bréne Brown. I listened to that one twice. Although I learned a lot from all of them. It was interesting hearing from the different women about where they are with their creativity and what was blocking them from doing the work they felt they needed to do.

Mar 15, 2015

Interview

An Interview with O. Henry Prize Winner, Asako Serizawa

We recently interviewed Asako Serizawa, author of The Visitor, which appeared in our Summer 2011 (Volume 69, Number 3) issue and which won an O. Henry Prize award in 2013.

Jul 14, 2014

Essay

Being a Fiction First Reader at The Antioch Review: An Interview with Katy Bowman

On average, nine readers cull through the approximately 3,000 per year fiction submissions looking for the thirty or so that will ultimately end up on the pages of The Antioch Review. These readers do a close reading of the submitted stories, find the ones they like, and send them on to editor, Robert Fogarty, who makes the final decision. The Antioch Review is grateful for all its first readers and thought you might like an inside look at how just one of them, Katy Bowman, approaches this important task.

Dec 6, 2013

Essay

The Last Poem I Loved: Revolutionary Letter #1 by Diane DiPrima

The summer I turned 19, after my first year of college, I took off, leaving behind my small midwestern campus, to work in a gift shop in Yosemite National Park. That’s a whole other story, and maybe someday I’ll tell it, but for now it’s enough to know that I was there. And that one night, some friends and I decided to take a trip to San Francisco on our day off.

Aug 17, 2011

Essay

Katy Bowman: The Last Book I Loved, Breakfast at Tiffany's

I have tried for the better part of three days to figure out how to write this review/adoration. I wanted to write some grand theory or expound on some deep wisdom gained through the reading of this book. I wanted to write something about this book that hadn’t already been written.

Apr 18, 2011