The Lighthouse Writers Top-Secret Blog

Reading Without Limits

tqtyson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:36:44 +0000

I’m going on vacation next week. There will be long days where we do nothing more strenuous than decide whether to order passion fruit martinis or wine with our dinner. Cards will be played. Dominoes are under discussion. I may try surfing (again). My husband and I will jog along a particular stretch of beach [...]

Real People & Weird Creatures: Novelist John Cotter on Life and Fiction

andreadupree — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 19:35:05 +0000

A few months ago I got an e-mail from a fiction writer who had just moved to Denver from Boston. His novel, Under the Small Lights, had recently been published by Miami University Press, and he’d taught at Grub Street, our sister indie literary center in Boston. He’d also managed to pick up his master’s in [...]

To Do in 2012: First, Write. Then, Do Everything Else.

tqtyson — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:51:18 +0000

As we enter a new year, there is the temptation to commit to big changes, to resolve to do things differently, but I refuse to be bullied by the calendar. Big commitments are slippery things. In my experience, it’s the small changes that stick. Take that most popular of resolutions: weight loss. Sure, you could [...]

Poetry is a Contact Sport: Getting to Know Seth Brady Tucker

mjhenry — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:43:11 +0000

When I recently met Seth Brady Tucker, our newest poetry instructor, at Fluid Coffee Bar, he showed up with a bunch of stitches in his lip. Still, though, he could smile. Which makes me like him all the more. And reconfirms for me that poetry is not for wimps. It’s a blood sport. (He actually [...]

Faulkner’s Resolve for the New Year

Nick Arvin — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 04:53:07 +0000

If you need some resolve for your New Year’s resolutions, may I suggest you borrow it from Mr. William Faulkner? I’ve been reading his Paris Review Interview, and it’s full of hard, raw literary determination. INTERVIEWER Is there any possible formula to follow in order to be a good novelist? FAULKNER Ninety-nine percent talent . [...]

“Keeping it up at home starts now…”

andreadupree — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:52:58 +0000

Along the commute from breakfast to my studio at the MacDowell colony.

Making Some Lists, Checking Them Occasionally

tqtyson — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:11:06 +0000

Tis the season for lists. Already we’ve seen numerous lists touting the best books of the year in all categories: fiction, nonfiction, children’s picture books, YA, and on and on. There is value in these lists. They let us collectively compare our reading habits, see how our own taste in literature matches up with the [...]

Frozen Waffles and the Cantaloupes of Doom

jdiegofrey — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:55:12 +0000

One of things I enjoy about Lighthouse poets is that, for the most part, they have gotten past the embarrassment of calling themselves poets. It’s a loaded word, poet, conjuring the simple pretentiousness of Jim Morrison’s tombstone or the preciousness of an ostrich feather quill and a pot of lavender ink. But poets we are [...]

Writing the Holidays

tqtyson — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:33:30 +0000

Now that the holidays are upon us (and I realize that I’m months late in my assessment according to you people who began Christmas shopping in August, who put up a tree three weeks ago, who decorated your bushes with wee ghosties for Halloween, who subscribe to all things Martha Stewart), you may feel overwhelmed [...]

Beth Bell “Eccentrics Unlimited” Short Story Contest Winner

danmanzan — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:35:37 +0000

Here’s a behind-the-scenes glance at Beth Bell’s writing process and experience with her contest winning piece “Heart Dog”. No animals were hurt in the creation of this blog. Dan Manzanares, Creative Curator