My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: John Hodgman
Like Will Ferrell or Amy Sedaris, it seemed like John Hodgman was creating a new kind of humor. We had no idea what he was going to do next, but…
Read This to Learn That: Gaby Dunn’s “Bad with Money” and Starting as a Writer from Nothing
One thing I know about the writing life is that you get better at the thing by doing it. I started out hoping to be invited to do the thing…
Why a Writer Might Want to Care About Frugality
I'm doing Liz Frugalwoods' Uber-frugal challenge this month, and I don't like it. I mean, I like her and her challenge, but I don't like feeling like I can't do…
I Don’t Want to Be Frugal, But I Want to Be a Writer
It's spending season. The sun shines upon Seattlites at University Village as I run to the Amazon book store, because it's the only place to return the clothes I bought…
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: Michelle Obama
Is there anyone classier, smarter, and more of a person I might be tempted to put a photo of on my mantel than Michelle Obama? She's brilliant in her own…
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: Anthony Bourdain
Before my trip to South America, I looked for places he’d been. I had 24 hours in Cali in Colombia, and he’d gone there, had dinner with some local musicians.…
10 Beach Reads
"In my mind, a beach read is something that’s “unputdownable,” whatever that means to you," says Susan Kehoe, managing partner of Browseabout Books. When the New York Times asked booksellers…
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith is kind of everything you ever want to be. I'm in love with this short story I heard her read on the New Yorker fiction podcast, and she…
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: Amy Schumer
As you know, Amy Schumer is ridiculous. I consider her my long-lost third sister. Not only does she have her book, The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, she of…
Read This to Learn That: Nature Writing
I've only once fallen in love with a piece of land, and I've been trying to write about it for a decade. When I bought a horse in Paraguay, I…
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: Roxane Gay
Roxane Gay was sitting outside Hugo House one night when I went to a reading. My friend Jessica and I chatted with her about student loan debt. When we said…
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: George Saunders
George Saunders is an uber-favorite: kind, brilliant, hard-working. I've never met anyone who said a bad word about him, and he was very generous when I met him outside a…
Tools to Write Without Distraction
You know that feeling like you want to just head out to a cabin in the woods and just write? Well you can get a little bit of that with…
The Next Books I’m Buying for My Writing Business
The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone Ask by Ryan Levesque Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port Getting Things Done by David Allen
Read This to Learn That: Free Indirect Discourse in “A Changed Man”
There's a style of third-person in fiction that frees up your narrator to let the characters indirectly share their thoughts, without all the clunkiness of “she thought” or “he imagined.”…
Show Your Work: How I Finally Got Published in McSweeney’s
Here’s how I got into McSweeney’s: 1. I submitted about 10 pieces over the last 10 years. 2. I joined a group of comedy writers and saw other people getting…
10 of My Favorite Seattle Writers
When you get live in a certain place, you get to know the writers who aren't necessarily the biggest names (though some are). Here are 10 writers I would love…
My Favorite Writers’ Favorite Books: Susan Orlean
Susan Orlean is a force. The author of The Library Book, The Orchid Thief, and Rin Tin Tin. I once got to sit near Susan Orlean, after an event at…
10 Tools Writers Need for a Healthy Workspace
If you want to be a writer, you want to be writing for the rest of your life. As someone who's had to wear a wrist brace and endure the…
10 Books of Poetry for People Who Aren’t “Poetry People”
When you think of poetry, you probably think of the things that come up when I looked for stock images for "poetry." Feather quills. Roses. Soft focus dreamscapes. I like…
10 Books George Saunders Loves
I'm so mad I just found this list. I was thinking about how people should search out the favorite books of their favorite authors. I realized I'd never done this…
The 10 Greatest Books of All Time
Have you ever wondered what the best books ever are? I found out! There's a whole website dedicated to it, TheGreatestBooks.org. They took more than 100 best book lists, weighted…
The 10 Most Hilarious Books I’ve Ever Read
Do not listen to David Sedaris on a bus. I tried to enjoy The Drama Bug, and nearly convulsed as he described picking up Elizabethan English. I twisted toward the…
marine plot with pages of water
10 Books That Have Legit Changed My Life
Here are 10 books that have shaped who I am today: 1. Guantanamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi An unprecedented international publishing event: the first and only diary written…