The Rhythm of the Words

"It’s definitely about the rhythm of the words and how they sound together, writing one sentence and then another and another and cutting something immediately if it doesn’t feel true. I come from a family of musicians and—while I have no musical abilities of my own—I think I inherited a good ear. It’s also obsessiveness. I’ll spend a lot of time working on a single sentence, debating over a dash or a colon, etc. I want things to be perfect. I know nothing will ever be as perfect as I want it, and this is very sad, but sometimes I can get close."

Don't miss Matthew Salesses' interview with Mary Miller (via the Rumpus). 

Babies

All this week Five Chapters will be publishing daily installments of short story "Babies."

You can get started with part 1, which is available here. 

Happy reading! 

Update: part 2, part 3, part 4, and part 5 also now available. 

Bob

"Bob worked at The Dairy. Not a dairy dairy with cows and milking devices and such, but a place we called The Dairy, because, I think, its official name was something like The Something-View Drive-Thru Market and Dairy. This was the mid-1980s, when there were still drive-thru markets..."

I don't write much nonfiction these days, but I have a short essay-ish thing over at BULL. It's called "Bob, or When the Nights Are Both Long and Short," and you can read it here.

If you went to high school with me, you might recognize some of the names and places.