Josh Barkan at the peak of Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa, in Morocco The writing life is one of paradox: We spend most of our time alone, but we need to connect with others to be able to write, to have a subject matter. I travel, perhaps, because it gives me a way…

Years ago, in the first apartment I rented by myself with no housemates, I killed all of my plants. It’s true. People who know me now find this hard to believe. And I must admit, it’s getting harder for me to believe it too. I don’t know that person as well as I used to.…

A recent meal I made for my wife: roasted chicken with wheat beer and orange gravy, molasses and orange-glazed carrots, and roasted brussels sprouts with red chile. + Remembering my earliest attempts at cooking, like remembering my earliest stories, makes me wince. A bad piece of writing can be revised, but only so much can…

Rugsy I like words. I like the way they roll around in my mouth like hard candy. I like to suck on them till they become part of me and trickle out through my fingers onto the page. I love words so much I want to sleep with them, marry them, love them forever, and…

The Crablike Spiny Orb Weaver To clear any immediate confusion, yes I grew up in Wisconsin and encountered The Mosquito. Yes I saw bugs; yes they stung and bit me, but never once in my childhood memory did I encounter a human who studied or admired insects. In my twenties, a black beetle, as big…

For most of my creative life I have identified as a writer, and the bulk of my public “success” has been in the world of words. But, forever, I have been diligently (if haphazardly) making paintings and (with much more fear) trying to find my way into making music. My tastes as a reader/viewer/listener are…

I started baking professionally around the same time that my official writing career began, and by that I mean my first undergraduate workshop. When I think about those early days of baking, waking up at 11:30pm to walk to my midnight shift, tired rubbery skin and watery eyes, I first see a giant orange bucket…

Today marks day 1 for my writer-in-residence at Necessary Fiction. Throughout the month of October I’ll explore the OTHER things fiction writers do to make us whole. You’ll hear from me about gardening and cooking and baking and music, but you’ll also hear from many other writers on a host of topics. It seemed appropriate,…

Wrap up warm, little doves. The end of the month has come. I really just want to take one last, short post to thank everyone who has been involved in this September Girl Lit project: Kristen Stone Kirsty Logan Chris Rice Laura Tansley Hilary Smith Ashley Ford And thank you to all authors who have…

A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride + I Have Blinded Myself Writing This by Jess Stoner Full disclosure before we begin Since reading I Have Blinded Myself Writing This and reviewing it on PANK, I have been in contact with the author Jess Stoner and follow her on Twitter. However lovely I…

“Genco and Leelee” – A novel excerpt from Hot Tamale. How many friendships have been forged over the barrel of a gun? It was clear from the very beginning that Genco and Leelee played by their own rules when it came to just about everything. As a couple, they were impossible to resist. Sure, you…