Writing on a computer is like sprinting through a park; you can cover a lot of ground very quickly. But will you have much to say about the ground you covered, or the sights and sounds you passed along the way? I want to write about subjects that deserve close observation… the kind of “seeing” that can only happen when you’re patiently strolling along the path. So I write my fiction longhand. It slows me down. I see more (and... Read more
It was 20 years ago this weekend that U2’s Achtung Baby landed in music stores like something from another planet. I was assigned to listen to the album and turn in a music review the next day to The Falcon, the student newspaper at Seattle Pacific University. So I joined the line of U2 fans at Tower Records for the midnight album release. Then I rushed back to my dorm, put on my headphones, and listened to the album four... Read more
My review of Martha Marcy May Marlene is up at Good Letters, the blog for Image journal. Read more
Here’s the breaking news about Movieguide… And here’s a link to my recent post that should be more than sufficient in explaining why this is awful news. (more…) Read more
A nostalgic sort of dream of being a pop star in the ‘60s and early ‘70s. It’s a sweet kind of album and I don’t know where it came from. I don’t know what compelled me to make it. It’s probably a bad idea, but everytime I listen to what I’ve done, it makes me really happy. So I figure, that must mean something and I should go ahead and put it out there. That’s Sam Phillips… (more…) Read more
Rumors have been rumbling, and now Twitch seems to be confident: Steven Spielberg appears to be in talks with Warner Brothers to direct a film about the life of Moses. They say: (more…) Read more
While patient fans of Sixpence None the Richer keep checking to see if the band’s new album has a release date, lo… an almost-Christmas miracle! (more…) Read more
Here is the second part in my review of Over the Rhine’s The Long Surrender. (Part One, “The Laugh of Recognition,” is here.) Thanks for your patience. I told you I was going to take my time and do this right. Here goes… (more…) Read more
Anne has written a short piece for The High Calling about her landscaping. Here’s a piece of it… (more…) Read more
I recently received an email from a young woman saying that she wanted to read my novels, but that first she needed to know if we believed the same things. I’m still reeling from that question. And yet, if I’m honest… (more…) Read more
Looking Closer
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