For undergrads who want the real deal on MFA programs, this blog is the best. Click here to learn anything and everything you've ever wanted to know.

For Publisher's Weekly Best of 2008, click here.

The time of Best Of lists is upon us. For Amazon's, click here.

“Someday there will be a story you want to tell for no better reason than because it matters to you more than any other…You’ll stop looking over your shoulder to make sure you are keeping everyone happy, and you’ll simply write what’s real and true…That’s when you’ll finally produce the work you’re really capable of.”
J.D. Salinger to Joyce Maynard

“Insofar as you are able, I would ask you, then, to be wary of the distractions of fame and the blandishments of commerce. I would ask you to be tireless and devoted in the courtship of your own imagination. I would ask you to nurture your friendships, your alligence with other human beings. If you feel grief or rage or love, give it a shape so that we as readers will know what you mean, and be able to better understand, better cope with the landscapes of our own grief and rage and love….Write until your mind goes blank. Write until your heart is nothing but ashes. Please. ” (emphasis mine.)
--Barry Lopez

To read the rest of his excellent speech at the recent Whiting Foundation Awards, click here.

For another guy who praised directness, click here.

To my students,



GO VOTE!



from your professor