Author Archives: Theodora Goss

What are reading protocols? When we think of the word protocol, we usually think of a set of behaviors: diplomats, for example, behave according to protocol. Protocols are the unwritten rules that govern how people behave. Reading protocols are the … Continue reading →

I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this. So far this semester, I’ve pulled three all-nighters: one for a Folkroots column, one for a dissertation chapter, and one to finish the work of the semester. But it’s … Continue reading →

I think I’ve overdosed on Ricolas. Do you know what Ricolas are? They’re cough drops. You can buy them at a health food store or pharmacy. All day long, I’ve been sucking the kind called Honey-Herb. I thought my cold … Continue reading →

This is one of those weekends. I have a lot of work to do, none of it writing. The work is intellectually rigorous but repetitive, and it’s taken longer than I anticipated. I hope that at some point my life … Continue reading →

We were talking about deliberate practice, and it seemed to me that deliberate practice, for a writer, would involve more than working on sentence or scene structure, for example. It would involve practicing to be creative. So I was thinking … Continue reading →

As I’ve probably mentioned, I’m reading Mario Vargas Llosa’s Letters to a Young Novelist. As I read it, I’ll excerpt passages that I think are important and comment on them. Yesterday I mentioned how helpful I think it is to … Continue reading →

I’ve been thinking about the idea of deliberate practice, and it seems to me that while the idea is certainly a good one, the way it’s described in Geoff Colvin’s Talent is Overrated doesn’t really help writers. Colvin describes deliberate … Continue reading →