A fiction-writer's non-fiction crisis

My pal Andrew Tibbetts, over at the CWC, is having a 'crisis of faith' about his fiction writing. His post is also a very good review of The Best American Essays 2007.

It's also sparking some discussion about non-fiction writing in general, with a mention of Ken McGoogan's recent Globe and Mail piece on the subject. Over at Canadian Magazines, D.B. Scott summarises the article (for those who missed it and don't want to pay to read it in its entirety), and Kerry Clare has a thing or two to say about it over at Pickle Me This.

Trying to weave in and out through fiction and non-fiction can be a bit of a challenge for writers, but I am surprised such hard lines have been drawn between the two.

McGoogan's argument for a third genre, as such, reminds me of Marge Piercy's 'third gender' suggestion in Women on the Edge of Time, and the controversy that incited.

I'm looking forward to reading more about this from writers of both genres.

Brooklyn Savings

The ceiling of the Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn, located in the middle of downtown Brooklyn, took me by surprise. Outside, across the street from fast-food restaurants and discount retailers, the engraving atop the entranceway is a reminder of a past when a dime meant something, the era of "Buddy, can you spare a dime," wing-tips and sharp-looking hats.

When I entered, though, I was hardly prepared for glamour of days-gone-by banking.

Seemingly unchanged since its opening, the fine hand-crafted wood and tiled fixtures, and the shiny brass and copper detailing, all herald a time when banks were symbols of prosperity and potential. All the way up to the top, to the inspiring ceiling. If you click on the photo, you'll get a much better sense of its splendor.

Inside one of the most beautiful banks I've ever seen, I waited patiently for the security guard to finish his phonecall discussing a concern about someone at one of the entrances, then I shyly asked to take a picture of the bank.

He was a sinew of a man, and his well-trimmed grey hair suggested he could have been one of the dapper men who banked here during its heyday. After sizing me up, all 5 feet of me, he diplomatically, but sternly, said: "You know I ain't allowed to do that, but one picture. One. I'm gonna walk away now, and don't know nothing about this."

Choosing that one photograph to take was difficult, but I settled on this one, wanting to honour the generosity of the security guard.

Then I withdrew some cash from the ATM, took one final look around, and returned to the reality of the day.

Shout-out to Deb Ng

The list of links to jobsearch sites, on the bottom right of this page, is thanks in part to Deb Ng over at freelancewritinggigs.com, in particular this post. Many of them I already had, but a few are new to me. Deb does a great job over there and I wanted to give credit where it's due. Thanks Deb!

A place for reflection

This is a photo I took in the WC of a New York cafe. It is the smallest, cleanest and most trippy WC I can recall. It certainly adds a whole new meaning to the idiom, 'A place for reflection.'

A work in progress

Please bear with me. I'll try to post only my own photographs here, but it is currently a challenge. Blogger is not co-operating with my upload requests, so I'm limited to what I can offer. In the spirit of full disclosure, though, the first photo is a ManRay image and the group photo on the right is a famous Josephine Baker photo. These, obviously, are not my pics.

Welcome

Thank you for dropping by.

While I work on getting a proper website together, write-proof-edit will act as a stand-in.

To the right, you will find a brief synopsis of my career thus far. Feel free to root around.