Digressing with Sheila Kohler

We're lucky to have Sheila Kohler. She's a brilliant storyteller, a mordant observer of human character, and a real tough cookie. And I mean that in the kindest way possible. She truly believes that the best thing we can do is teach one another what we know -- as if perhaps the true vocation of …

Digressing with Michele Herman

Please check out my digression with poet, novelist, and short story writer Michele Herman. An adopted New Yorker, she shares how she has manages to live in one of the most expensive cities on earth without either a trust fund, a Wall Street salary or a sugar daddy -- all while raising a family, being …

Digressions with Annie DeWitt

Many years ago, in the aftermath of a Gigantic launch party, I ran into Annie DeWitt on a Manhattan-bound F train. The magazine was called Gigantic, it published only tiny stories, and Annie was one of its hugely talented founding editors. She was a force of nature then, and she’s a force of nature now. …

Digressing with Lincoln Michel

One of the most interesting things about my conversation with Lincoln Michel was our discussion of genre fiction – not because he’s a “genre writer” but because he’s a “genre-bending” writer. The funny thing is that he talked about the odd segregation between genre and literary writers, genre and literary awards, and genre and literary …

But I Digress… with Michael Gottlieb

My first podcast episode of But I Digress is now live! Michael Gottlieb, the author of more than 20 books, joins me to talk about the role of art in life, which he says is "to help us live our lives." He talks about New York, the hidden New York, how poets live their lives, …

On Borges, Fiction’s Clay and Purpose

The lines between fiction and memoir are often blurred. This is problematic for anyone who writes and still has loved ones! I'm grateful to the blogger Tim Ferris for providing this timely quote, as I try to find an agent for The Factory: A Novel Based on a True Holocaust Story. “A writer—and, I believe, …

Melvin McNair: World’s Nicest Hijacker

I met Melvin McNair on a dusty playing field in Caen, a city on the French Atlantic coast that had been bombed into permanent dreariness during WWII. He was managing the local baseball team, and I was managing a Paris-based team. During the course of a doubleheader, we chatted on the field, and off during …

How to market your unpublished novel… or not

I've been listening to the Ringo Starr song, It Don't Come Easy. The song is (forgive the pun) easy on the ears, and it's also kind of an anthem for anyone trying to do something extremely daunting. Like trying to get someone to represent, publish (or heck, read) literary fiction. So, ya want to be …

Introducing “But I Digress”

I'm very lucky. I know a lot of great writers. But like most writers, I'm a bit of a recluse, which means I don't see or talk with them very often. This is my avatar, Michael Missing, drawn by and given me by my late friend Michael Hoover. So I've had a wonderful idea: an …

The Factory: A Novel: The Pitch

What my brain looks like when trying to pitch my fiction. The good news is that I’m done with The Factory: A Novel. Now I need to pitch it (to an agent, a publisher, a movie producer, a doormouse… I suck at pitching my own stuff. There is a short pitch and a long pitch. …

Exquisite New Stories

I know it's just terrible to write so infrequently. As a child I was a terrible pen pal. I will try to do better. Now, I'm not bragging when I say Exquisite. These stories have been published in Exquisite Pandemic, an online magazine recently launched by Rick Whitaker, whom I have known for (Jesus, really?) …

Finally: I Lived in France and So Can You

I’m thrilled to announce that my new book, "I Lived in France and So Can You," is now available through Dzanc Books. Huge thanks to Dan Wickett, who continues to believe in and support my work! Thanks also to Molly Elliott for allowing me to write about part of her life, and to Carol Edwards Hickins for being the …