Monthly Archives: December 2011

Don’t ask, don’t tell

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Lindsey Crittenden

Note: there will be no post next Friday, 12/30. Check back 1/6/12. Happy New Year! The question comes up at parties, over dinner with new friends, next to a chatty traveler on an airplane. The inevitable ice-breaker— What do you … Continue reading →

Posted in craft, writing | Tagged 1969 moon landing, anguished question, Away from Trees, childhood, courthouse, creative process, drafting process, fiction, fiction themes, fiction workshop, fiction writing, ghost town, intuition, kidnapping, loss, planting symbols, revision, Wallace Stegner | 4 Comments

The Space Between

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Lindsey Crittenden

Last weekend, I went on silent retreat, as I have for the past eight Decembers, at the Bishop’s Ranch in Healdsburg, California. I mark the season of Advent—the four weeks leading up to Christmas—by fleeing shops and noise and email, … Continue reading →

Posted in craft, prayer, spirituality, writing | Tagged Advent, Advent Quiet Days, apophatic prayer, Barbara Brown Taylor, Bishop's Ranch, book design, definitions of divine, definitions of God, language, limitations of language, Lindsey Crittenden, negative space, path of unknowing, silence, silent retreats, via negative, When God Is Silent, Yale Divinity School | Comments Off

Why I Teach

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Lindsey Crittenden

Last Monday, at the second-to-last meeting of my Writing Skills Workshop class at UC Berkeley Extension, one of the students said, “I don’t even want to think about saying good-bye to everyone.” Her large, expressive eyes opened even wider, and … Continue reading →

Posted in community, craft, teaching, writing | Tagged class discussion, feedback, Lindsey Crittenden, students, teaching, UC Berkeley Extension, writing classes, writing practice, Writing Skills Workshop | Comments Off

Read Anything Good Lately?

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Lindsey Crittenden

I own many books. I have piles of magazines going back I don’t want to say how many months. Reading material covers every surface in every room I live in. I belong to the Mechanics’ Institute, whose wonderful library has … Continue reading →

Posted in craft, reading, writing, writing groups | Tagged 20 u nder 40, Alice Munro, Amagansett, backstory, Billy Prior, Caribou Island, character development, David Vann, favorite authors, fiction, Jane Eyre, Jonathan Coe, Lindsey Crittenden, literary analysis, literary fiction, Lloyd Jones, Lonesome Dove, Mary Tyler Moore, Mechanics' Institute, Michiko Kakutani, Mr Pip, narrative structure, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Pat Barker, Penn Station, reading fiction, Rebecca, Regeneration trilogy, Seasons in the Sun, The Great Gatsby, The Rain Before It Falls, The Scarlet Letter | 1 Comment

Monthly Archives: December 2011

Don’t ask, don’t tell

The Space Between

Why I Teach

Read Anything Good Lately?

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