craft

Interview with Lisa Barr, Author of The Unbreakables PLUS BOOK GIVEAWAY

Saturday, September 14, 2019
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  Lisa Barr is the author of The Unbreakables (HarperCollins) a delicious, sharp novel about a Chicago woman who jets off to France after her “perfect” marriage collapses, putting the broken pieces of herself back together while rediscovering her own joie de vivre—a lust for life, art, and passion. Artful, feminist, and emotionally gripping, The Unbreakables is a remarkable tribute to a woman’s strength in the face of heartbreak and adversity.        What’s one book that made…

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When The Muse Calls With Inspiration — You Listen

Friday, September 13, 2019
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You always hear people talking about muses whispering in their ear, as if in a trance, or their “characters” speaking to them. Well, I’m not a novelist so I don’t have characters to take over the heavy lifting of writing, but I will say that it feels like someone else wrote up my book proposal. I had been working for a while on a memoir about my infertility, based on…

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What, Me, a Book?

Friday, September 6, 2019
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It’s interesting that it’s Labor Day weekend — because this is when I actually finished my book. Yes, I did submit the behomoth on Memorial Day, almost a year since I’d started it, under contract. “Aren’t you excited?” everyone asked. (Well, I posted on FB that I submitted, so it was my fault.) Yes, I was overwhelmed with emotion. The night that I’d finished — Thursday before Memorial Day weekend,…

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Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: Chopping block

Tuesday, July 9, 2019
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Aloha! This week we are supposed to address “what we cut from our books and why:” Well, technically I had almost everything deleted from my debut novel, The Atlas Of Reds and Blues. On May 17, 2010, the Georgia state police raided my home at gunpoint and confiscated, among other things, my laptop. Even though a state judge in Georgia dismissed all of the charges against my husband back in…

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Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: Temper!

Tuesday, July 2, 2019
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I’m so thrilled the world is now able to get their hands on Layne Fargo’s excellent novel, Temper. It is a masterful thriller, suspenseful and so well-written. It deserves all the accolades it’s going to get. I was hooked from the opening pages, it was cinematic! And I felt I was witnessing an epic battle between the two main characters, Kira and Joanna. These are two strong-willed, deeply-flawed women and…

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Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: Stocking Up for Summer

Tuesday, May 28, 2019
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Aloha! I’ve been celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month this month, albeit intermittently. Each week, I’ve posted a stack of books by authors (and friends!) whose work I love and admire. And I thought I’d end the month with a visual guide to a stack of really great books that you should check out this summer — some are upcoming titles, such as Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok…

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Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: Study, Steady

Tuesday, May 21, 2019
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This week’s topic: “MFA vs NYC vs Choose Your Own Adventure.” Aloha. What if my writing education has been all three? I confess I’m a bit of a professional student. I love to be in a class, I love to have homework and get direction. The underlying motivation all throughout my writing life has been my desire to find community and gain skills, to chip away at a steady pace….

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Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: Writing Time

Aloha. I started writing poetry when I was nine years old. I remember writing in bursts. I had a wonderful teacher that year, and she was encouraging us to write beyond what the class assignments required us to do for the poetry unit. I first learned about haiku and sonnets and I was hooked! I wrote anywhere and anytime, and on any surface — from napkins to spiral notebooks. By…

Tuesday, May 14, 2019
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Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: Indie Love

Tuesday, April 23, 2019
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Aloha. K.A. Doore wrote an essay yesterday about the reader’s buying power and how the support of an independent bookstore helps save jobs and sustain a vibrant literary community. I have nothing to add to her excellent work – she said it so eloquently. I want to say that I’m so deeply grateful I have the love and support of Counterpoint Press. This amazing independent press was brave to embrace…

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Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: Love-hate relationship

Tuesday, February 12, 2019
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Aloha! What I like about my debut novel, The Atlas of Reds and Blues: it’s short. Also, I think it’s full of suspense. What I love about writing in general: I get to tell stories, I get to try out new writing techniques. I get to read books about craft. I get to write poems. I get to attend writing conferences and workshops, where I meet other writers and poets…

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