A monthly letter from Gotham’s dean of faculty, Kelly Caldwell (usually writing advice)
“I love the way you fix up my quotes. You make me sound a lot smarter than I do in real life.”
Bob, a source I often interviewed when I worked as a newspaper reporter in Michigan, said that to me all the time. Every time, I’d flinch. “Bob!” I’d say through clenched teeth, “I am not fixing your quotes!” Continue reading “Authentic Dialogue”
The next time you’re thinking about giving up, think instead of Yvonne Puckett.
A few years back, Yvonne, a dancer, wanted to perform in the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera’s production of The King and I.
At the time, her father-in-law was Louis Adrian, conductor of LACLO’s orchestra. When she told him she planned to audition, he looked appalled. “You?” he said. “In the King and I? No way.” Continue reading “Dance It All Away”
You watched or read Annie Proulx’s recent speech at the National Book Awards, didn’t you?
If you didn’t, you really must. Her talk is at once urgent and quirky and eloquent and moving, like her novels. And the most important part might be her opening line:
Although this award is for lifetime achievement, I didn’t start writing until I was 58. Continue reading “Not Too Late”