Monthly Archives: April 2009

This whole Amazon thing has made me overwhelmingly sad. That it might come down to some poor bastard not understanding the difference between “erotica” and “sexuality” is not helping much. At the bookstore, a couple of years ago, the managers got into an argument about… Read more

When did you learn that words were powerful? Not just useful: “I’m hungry,” or “I need a sweater.” Or layered: “If you expect to get a treat afterward, you’d better stop that this instant.” But powerful.

I was nine, playing baseball for the first time… Read more

Well, I didn’t go online yesterday—mostly hunting Easter eggs with a small delighted boy, consuming Cadbury chocolates, and dropping at 3 p.m. into a sugar coma. And this is what I missed: Amazon.com has decided to remove queer books from their sales rankings and certain… Read more

You can’t sleep—barely eat—are speaking in a kind of gibberish as a result of all the depletion. You’re high. Clumsy. The dishes in your house in constant danger. You think you’ve never had so much awareness. 

You are raw and frenetic. Your brain cannot come… Read more

What have I been thinking? I’ve been rewriting part one of my second manuscript—which definitely won’t be released in May, it’ll be a miracle if we make June—and I’ve just had it so wrong. I’d been writing from conflict, and missing all the humor and… Read more

The most wistful kid I know is a boy named Dustin. The first exchange between Dustin (4 at the time) and Gavin (18 months old) went something like this:

Dustin: Do you want to use my crayons?

Gavin: (Silent contemplation)

Dustin: Do you know how… Read more

I’m going to claim dissatisfaction as the most important artistic impetus. If you don’t like the negative connotation of the word, let’s call it seeking or restlessness. Curiosity. We can put a bow around it. But dissatisfaction is one of the most vital pushes toward… Read more