A is for Abattoir: Five words for 2021 so far
For me and Kelley the first half of January has been a rollercoaster of events clustered around five different words.
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A writing update: Hild, Aud, Ammonite and more
New of Hild, Aud, Ammonite and more
Read more8/6 #CripLit Twitter Chat: Writing Disability
You are invited to the ninth #CripLit Twitter chat co-hosted by novelist Nicola Griffith and Alice Wong of the Disability Visibility Project®. We want to talk about the experience of writing about and from being disabled. Please join us on 6 August, 4pm Pacific/7pm Eastern
Read moreThe story of my PhD, Part 5: Future
This is Part Five of the story of my doctorate—the who, why, when, what, and how of it—based on questions from readers on this blog, Facebook, and Twitter.
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One-day workshop, Oct 8: What readers like—and why
I’ll be teaching What Readers Like—And Why, a one-day workshop for Clarion West, on Sunday, 8 October, 10am-4pm.
Read moreStorify of Sunday’s #CripLit chat on YA/KidLit
The Storify of Sunday’s #CripLit chat on YA/KidLit is up. That means we now have seven chats archived.
Read moreNew novella—and writing from identity
I’ve been off social media for nearly two weeks in order to write a novella, working title So Lucky. It is CripLit.
Read moreWriting in difficult times
We are writers. We must write. We must use hard and honest words. Not ‘alt-right’ but white supremacist. Not ‘religious exception’ but homophobic hate. Not ‘thoughtless’ but ableist. Call it what it is. A writer’s job is to tell her truth, loud and clear.
Read moreGuidelines for Non-Disabled Writers
Just republishing this for future reference. First published in Literary Hub, August 23, 2016 Recently I have read several articles about disabled…
Read more#CripLit Twitter chat: Intersectionality, 12 October 4pm Pacific/7 pm Eastern
The third #CripLit Twitter chat, on Disabled Writers, Diverse Literature, and Intersectionality, is scheduled for Wednesday, 12 October, 4 pm Pacific/7 pm Eastern.Co-hosts me and Alice Wong. Guest host Alaina Leary. You don’t want to miss this one!
Read moreDisabled Writers & Characters Storify
The inaugural #CripLit Twitter chat was a success. It’s archived on Storify.
Read moreWriting Slow River
Is there such a thing as an “essential self”? If so, can it be warped, encouraged, or destroyed? How far outside the moral and physical boundaries of that essential self would I we be willing to step in order to stay alive? And—if we stepped so far out that we became someone we did not recognise or like—would we still be us? I wrote Slow River to answer those questions.
Read moreExperimenting with workflow
I’m working on two big projects and am experimenting with workflow: timing, choices, priorities. Expect email delays.
Read moreFor those attuned to theremins
I write for those who, when—in real life, or a book, or a song—they touch something that makes them shiver, don’t turn and run, but turn and follow.
Read moreDoing the Work
Aud is my commitment to excellence made flesh/word and walking around; she uses whatever it takes to get the job done. She is the tension between the joy and discipline that is my art (or craft or life or bane, depending) filed to a point and stabbed into the tabletop.
Read moreWriting a novel: where to enter
From: JaneIn the NYT today, I read a piece by Roger Cohen, quoting an Israeli author named Amos Oz. I thought you’d…
Read moreThe long tail: not the author’s friend
Picture by Hay Kranen/ PD. The long tail is that of the demand curve of products versus sales. The best-sellers are all…
Read moreProject decisions
An evening of this: Leads to noodling like this: And the begins of a decision. If you know my work worrying well,…
Read moreExciting writing
I taught a whole-day workshop* yesterday for twelve writing students. The topic was ‘exciting writing’. My aim was to pass along what…
Read moreHild is done
The first draft of part one is complete. Numbers, for those of you who like such things: pages 976 words 201,670 paragraphs…
Read moreHild update
Don’t be alarmed if my presence here is sporadic and eccentric in the next few days. I’m getting very, very close to…
Read moreValentine dessert, weddings, and war
Strictly-speaking, it was pre-Valentine dessert, a gift from our favourite neighbour, Vicki. Cherry tart, with handmade Cognac chocolate truffles. Pretty damn good…
Read moreMethod writing and Hild tidbits
I spent yesterday afternoon in the seventh century with a teenaged Hild who has just been spurned by her first love, who…
Read moreStrange light
The light is strange here this morning. Perhaps it’s just the time change, but the leaves of the trees just outside my…
Read moreNoam Chomsky was wrong (and other science-of-writing tidbits)
If researchers at Northumbria University are right, Noam Chomsky was wrong when he declared that everyone in a linguistic community shares the…
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Nicola Griffith 