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January 26, 2010

Whatever You Say, Professor

I need to watch my tone in these posts, I think. Rather than trying to be an amusing dinner guest ~ telling entertaining stories, possibly with deeper meanings ~ I find that I fall into the didactic, the imperative mode. You do this and you do that. I’ve got to remember I’m speaking to real live people who don’t like to be told what to do. I sometimes soften it by saying I’m speaking to myself, which is absolutely true, but if I’m posting it here, it’s not just inside my head. I’ve got to be gentler with other people.

Please read with a forgiving heart, and feel free to stick your tongue out if ever I come on too strongly.

What I’m Reading Today: “Read” ~ i.e., listened to ~ the New Yorker podcast of Carson McCullersThe Jockey,” read and discussed by Karen Russell. A story I could read and reread for all the little effects and how it all works together. It’s all of a piece, everything working together so well. The telling details are, at the same time, in your face yet subtle and multifaceted.

PS My friend Lynne Barrett has a story "When, He Wondered" in March/April's Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. I can’t wait to read it!

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