They say — or, at least, a lot of famous writers say — that to become a good writer, you should also read a lot.
This makes sense to me. I try to learn from whatever I’m reading — even if it’s ad copy in a magazine. Even if it’s from bad writing. At least I can learn how not to write an ad, a book, a short story.
No reading is ever wasted if you learn from it.
Continue reading “Current reads”Some thoughts on writing the end of a thing, inspired by one of my favorite novels of 2024
One of my favorite novels of 2024 is Martyr!, by Kaveh Akbar. It is the story of a twentysomething poet and recovering alcoholic named Cyrus (Karoosh in Persian). When he was just an infant, Cyrus immigrated to the U.S. with his father after his mother was killed when the plane she was on was shot down over the Persian Gulf . Cyrus becomes obsessed with martyrs and martyrdom, and travels from his Indiana home to Brooklyn to meet an Iranian-American artist, Orkideh, who has terminal cancer and is living out her last days in an art museum for her final art exhibit.
I want to share one passage from Martyr! that triggered in me some thoughts about the writing process and its mysteries:
Continue reading “Silence behind me, silence before me”
Andrew Careaga 