Author: Kristen

  • Digging into Metaphors

    Digging into Metaphors

    I’ve been reading The New Life by Tom Crewe, a novel about gender and sexuality and the cultural expectations of domestic life in 1890s London—to put it in a very small and inadequate nutshell. It’s a very good book, one I would very much recommend (content warning: sex scenes). However, this is not a review…

  • Introducing Leo Bloom, Courtesy of His Cat

    Introducing Leo Bloom, Courtesy of His Cat

    Leopold Bloom is the protagonist of Ulysses, yet he doesn’t show up until page 55. And even then, he’s not the first to speak in his own chapter. James Joyce gave that honor to Bloom’s unnamed cat. Scholars have long noted that Joyce was a cat lover and that he may even have preferred their…

  • Ice, Isolation, and Solitude

    Ice, Isolation, and Solitude

    I. On Friday, the snow started falling and falling, but it was soft and dry, unusual for the Portland area. The ice came quickly after in some areas, which is not so unusual. The snow in my back yard remained about a foot deep. The city is famously ill-equipped for dealing with snow, but no…

  • A Gawain for All Seasons

    SAYING IT IN LARGE TEXT: I 100% REVEAL THE ENDING OF THIS MOVIE IN THIS ESSAY. If you’ve seen it or that doesn’t bother you (it is a good movie worth watching), read on. Here’s the thing about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: every version depicts an imagined past. The original, written in the…

  • Sci-Fi Facing Backward

    For decades, genre fiction of all kinds—sci-fi, fantasy, horror, romance, and historical fiction—was relegated to the pulp racks and considered beneath the notice of serious readers. Many of these books, while fun, were not masterpieces, and the few that could have been considered masterpieces—maybe a Ray Bradbury novella or an Ursula le Guin series—were disdained…

  • Bête of Burden

    Bête of Burden

    During the first summer of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, I decided to tackle my first translation of a book from French to English. Voyage Around My Room by Xavier de Maistre seemed like an obvious choice that summer, since it’s a novel about the author’s house arrest in the late eighteenth century. He spent…

  • Must Of Been a Mistake

    I received an email from my website form about people using “of” where they should use “have” in their writing. It was really more of a comment than a question. I wasn’t going to address it because I didn’t know where I’d talk about it, but then I started this newsletter, and here we are.The…

  • Donna Tartt, Queen of Punctuation

    My friend Carly, who knows how my brain works and can wind my literary obsessions up like a toy, told me over dinner one night that she had decided that Donna Tartt was the queen of punctuation. She was reading The Secret History for the first time, though it was Carly herself who had insisted…

  • My Go-To Freelance Tools and Apps

    My Go-To Freelance Tools and Apps

    I’ve noticed, after six months of stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, that a lot of people are striking out on their own to build freelance businesses. I’ve been out here living a freelance life since 2006, and I would like to welcome you all! It can be tough going for the first few years,…

  • Making a Mistake, Then Making It Better

    Making a Mistake, Then Making It Better

    On May 19, publication day for Life Among the Paiutes, I sent out about a half-dozen copies to friends and family, including the artist who did the cover. I printed out the labels and left them for the mail carrier to pick up in a responsible, socially distant way. I was so proud. A couple…

  • Kickstarter in the Time of COVID-19

    It’s official: the Kickstarter campaign for Life Among the Paiutes did not fund. Despite my best efforts, and the efforts of friends, family, and complete strangers who believed in the book, we weren’t able to reach our funding goal. Boo. April 2020 was admittedly a weird time to launch a campaign for a book. Lots…

  • A Translation for the Quarantimes

    A Translation for the Quarantimes

    I’m working on a translation of Une Voyage autour ma Chambre (A Voyage Around My Room), by Xavier de Maistre, from French to English. He was confined to his room for 42 days in the 1790s as a punishment for dueling, so this is a perfect project for these quarantimes.  It includes his thoughts on the soul, his…

  • How to Make a Book Step 7: Book Marketing

    How to Make a Book Step 7: Book Marketing

    In this eight-part series, I’ll walk you through the creation of a book using the next release from Practical Fox as an example. As I do the steps to make Life Among the Paiutes, I’ll write about it! You can start with Step 1. Ah, book marketing. There are so many ways to do it, and so many…

  • How to Make a Book Step 6: Do the Details

    How to Make a Book Step 6: Do the Details

    Your book is now a little like Pinocchio, who waited to become a real boy. You’ve got edited text, a nicely designed interior, and an eye-catching cover. Now it’s time for your project to become a real book. And that means doing all the little details that make it happen.

  • How to Make a Book Step 5: Make a Cover

    How to Make a Book Step 5: Make a Cover

    In this eight-part series, I’ll walk you through the creation of a book using the next release from Practical Fox as an example. As I do the steps to make Life Among the Paiutes, I’ll write about it! You can start with Step 1. Okay, you’ve got the text, edited it, and designed the interior. Now comes the…

  • How to Make a Book Step 4: Book Design

    How to Make a Book Step 4: Book Design

    In this eight-part series, I’ll walk you through the creation of a book using the next release from Practical Fox as an example. As I do the steps to make Life Among the Paiutes, I’ll write about it! You can start with Step 1. If you are traditionally published, all of the book design will…

  • How to Make a Book Step 3: Book Editing

    How to Make a Book Step 3: Book Editing

    In this eight-part series, I’ll walk you through the creation of a book using the next release from Practical Fox as an example. As I do the steps to make Life Among the Paiutes, I’ll write about it! First, let’s deal with one of the most pressing questions on book Twitter: Do you need a…

  • How to Make a Book Step 2: Set a Publication Date

    How to Make a Book Step 2: Set a Publication Date

    In this eight-part series, I’ll walk you through the creation of a book using the next release from Practical Fox as an example. As I do the steps to make Life Among the Paiutes, I’ll write about it! Start with Step 1 here. You’ve written your text, or picked a public domain text, or bought…

  • How to Make a Book Step 1: Get Yourself Some Text

    How to Make a Book Step 1: Get Yourself Some Text

    In this eight-part series, I’ll walk you through the creation of a book using the next release from Practical Fox as an example. As I do the steps to make Life Among the Paiutes, I’ll write about it! The most basic thing every book needs is some text. Some words on some pages, whether they’re…

  • Freelance Perks: Serious Time Off

    Here is what it is like to be a mid-career freelance editor and writer. After building up subject expertise and reliable contacts and great clients, I get to take a month off. Like, a whole month. This month, to be exact. How I Planned It In the spring, Mr. KHG and I discussed taking time…

  • Skull and Sidecar: Where Did Those Characters Come From?

    Skull and Sidecar: Where Did Those Characters Come From?

    If you’ve read my novel Skull and Sidecar, or even if you’ve only read its description, you might be wondering, What the hell kind of name is Gunn Flagely? And where did Nell Kelly come from? Well, wonder no more, friends!  Gunn Flagely A couple of years ago, I was on the phone with my…