Issue no. 5 of Freight Stories is now live. Check it out.
Includes a new story from my pal Alicia Gifford, as well as offerings from Ron Burch, Jason Skipper, Rachel Furey, Michael Martone, Margaret McCullan, Bryan Furuness, Victoria Patterson and Liza Wieland.
Ever wanted to tackle reading David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest? This summer would be a good time.
Here’s the call to action from the newly launched Infinite Summer website:
“Read Infinite Jest over the summer of 2009, June 21st to September 22nd. A thousand pages ÷ 92 days = 75 pages a week.”
The site offers four guides/writers and various participants who’ll go through the experience with you.
Reading IJ was one of the most amazing (and exhausting) reading experiences I’ve ever had. I read it in the fall of 1997 when I was living in San Francisco. I still remember commuting to work and lugging it on the bus or train — usually so crowded that I had to stand, one hand holding a pole and the other clutching the 1,079-page paperback, causing a severe case of Infinite Jest wrist.
That’s what John Irving does. When he’s writing a novel, he writes the last sentence first. Then he writes the rest of the book toward that last sentence.
I’ve often heard writers say they write a first sentence and then follow that sentence. But Irving says he does the opposite. I think I may have done this once, for a short story. As a regular practice, though, I don’t think so. Not for me anyway.
What starts things for me is usually that first sentence, or a character, or an idea, or an image, or… something.
Irving discusses his approach in a video interview with The New York Times.
This reminds me of someone I used to work with (via The Onion again).
Courtesy of Ethan:
“Mommy, you’re so… awesome.
“Daddy, you’re so… cool.
“I’m so… inspiring!”
