PEN Center USA

HTC and the P-Word Again

Posted: May 16th, 2012 by Shanna Mahin Comments: 0

Over on another blog there was a conversation about books that are HTC (hard to categorize). A well-regarded agent lamented that perhaps she’s lost her edge because she finds herself turning down beautifully written books that are just too HTC. Books that are too hard to package, too hard to market, too hard to ultimately find a home for.
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My 2012 Reading List (A Work in Progress)

Posted: May 9th, 2012 by Shanna Mahin Comments: 2

Books I’ve loved so far this year:
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I'm a Broken Record; Also, Jack Kerouac

Posted: May 2nd, 2012 by Shanna Mahin Comments: 7

I’m fat again. This is not a new occurrence. I was a fat kid, then a thin kid, then a fat kid. Lather, rinse, repeat. It’s complicated. It’s a problem. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
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Figuring it Out

Posted: April 25th, 2012 by Shanna Mahin Comments: 3
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Failing Forward

Posted: April 19th, 2012 by Shanna Mahin Comments: 4

I had my mid-project review over the weekend. It was gently suggested that I might be on the wrong track, which I heard as, “You’ve left the track entirely and wandered away into the woods surrounding the track, naked and without a bag of breadcrumbs.” My brain is a serious paraphraser.
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There is No There There

Posted: April 11th, 2012 by Shanna Mahin Comments: 8
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The Sounds of Silence

Posted: April 4th, 2012 by Shanna Mahin Comments: 0
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Filling the Well

Posted: March 28th, 2012 by Shanna Mahin Comments: 2

Our mid-project review packets were due today. I feel like a wrung-out washcloth, limp and damp, and I’m mentally exhausted. I’ve worked on nothing else for the past six days, literally. (I mean, I fed myself and worked out and did the life stuff that must be done to exist, but nothing else.) I’m empty.
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Girl's First Jump

Posted: March 21st, 2012 by Shanna Mahin Comments: 6

Our mid-project reviews are coming up. My fellow Marks have really knocked it out of the park, creating heightened tensions and new depths of story in their work. I… have not. Now I have about a week to wrangle all the bits of writing I’ve done over the past two months into a smooth revision of the first half of my book. It’s been a difficult journey thus far, with several false starts and switchbacks, and umpteen pages of unusable material. I’m terrified.
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Today in Writer Self-Sabotage

Posted: March 14th, 2012 by Shanna Mahin Comments: 13

I’ve pretty much missed application season this year. I used to be relentless. I haven’t submitted work to many literary magazines—a couple, maybe—but I’ve been pretty regular about churning out intricate applications for fellowships and residencies over the past several years.
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