After interminable edits, formatting marathons, and emails during breaks between class to lay down the marketing bricks of this project, it is done. Everything that is not writing is finished. Anything that is left to be, will be left to be. The novel, ladies and gentlemen, is out now. You will find a cover, sexy […]

Last Friday night, in bed with a cup of chamomile tea, I finished the last chapter of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet. What a rush, I thought, staring at the wooden end of an exhausted incense stick on my desk; what a rush, despite the peace around me. I closed the fourth book, itself full of […]

The girl facing me was called Conchela. She had a heart-shaped face and a ponytail so tightly pulled back that it was hard to tell where her forehead ended and her hairline receded. She seemed real at first, but later I came to learn the only thing real about her was how children in Southeast […]

*Art: Neva river by Igor Dubovoy • Russia carved a seal upon my head.   • For months, maybe years, the biggest oddest reddest whitest bluest most fascinating country in the world (at the time, still today?) had called to me (2). Here she was, for a she she was, beneath our feet, not so […]

You have to be a poet to do just about anything.   You have to be a poet to translate another’s words. Only poets care enough about language to clearly convey one person’s thought to a different person’s understanding. Any other type of translator will blur the message. The best translators are then as transparent […]

The Summer Abroad — now available on KINDLE. Purchase here.   Did you buy it? Good. On the fence? Let me tell you a story. Perhaps it’ll help you make up your mind. So, storytime. Gather ’round the fire.   (Wood crackles. Embers spark. And a wolf howls in brisk autumn air.)   In 2013 I […]

This morning I assigned my students two simple writing prompts, exercising the present tense. They had to use the words “as soon as,” “first,” “next,” “then,” “before/after,” and “when.” We all learned. For example, I realized, as I chalked the prompts on the blackboard, that “when” plays as the middle child between “before” and “after.” […]

Three dark themes stalk this journey into self-publishing: Bursts of tinkering, troubleshooting, and anxiety.   Of course there are luminous elements holding hands with me as we progress. But those lights shine in between and at the end of the journey.   Last Friday, I received the edited draft from the professor-editor who agreed to […]

Wouldn’t it be nice to dive a little deeper, to investigate, to engage? Curiosity can sometimes feel like holding our breath, but at least this way we can swim down into a deep subject, without swallowing any water.   Metaphors enough. For this weekend’s post the idea of interviewing a fellow writer made a lot […]

A buddy sent me this sketch from College Humor last Sunday, which satirizes the stereotypes Americans have against New Yorkers. My favorite part was the joke about NYC getting criticized more than any other city.   “Nobody ever talks shit about Cincinnati,” says the man from Ohio.   “That’s actually a great point,” replies the […]

The stories we tell ourselves set the standards we live by. The love stories from the title, which are three, are to come. But first, a joust.   An architect, a cook, and a writer walk up to a British immigration officer. This is literally what happened when our father, my brother, and I entered […]

This week, I met with an ex-workshop peer from way back (from last year). She is currently working on her own thesis project, which explores the current fiction-workshop model, how it fosters or damages originality, and what universities can do about it. Having participated in the same workshop ourselves, she was keen to discuss.   […]

Ice cream. Outer space. Reflex. Lombok, Indonesia. LCD Soundsystem. Bullseye. Zeker. Mosque. Date. По-русски. Brighton Beach. Vial. Malachite. Autobiography. Vanidades. Superman. Zelda. Sk8ter boi. Summer. Twentysomething. Yawp. Kebab. Kiss. Two-hundred hungry loud Texans. Moons. Gray-whiskered and rough. Argos. Estrangement. Imperceptible smile. Low gravity. Cigarette. Astronomy. Burnt-orange bag. Black Hercules. Queso. Parallax and birth control.   Ladies […]

Pasó así, Papá, y aunque pese, como lo viví te lo narro, en inglés:   Completely cut off from chance, no hope, only needs and responsibilities. I got home at 1 PM from working a four-hour at the language school. I would talk about that shift later in the day, when it came to answering […]

This new work schedule, teaching mornings-afternoons-and-evenings, has me standing before a class of eager language learners about forty hours a week, breaks in between classes, so that is most days leaving the house at 6:30 a.m. and coming back at 9 o’clock at night. It ain’t easy, though thrilling, but definitely makes me think twice […]