One of the first lines I wrote in the wake of The Vote was “I have lost my words.” I had gone mute with grief and rage and fear. But I had to teach, to stand in front of young scared faces who looked to me to tell them the world would not end. I…… Continue reading Here is the day
Author: bryn
Writing, teaching, whatnot
When the brakes fail, and other metaphors
The US election and its fallout coincided with our move across town. We’d spent ten months searching for a place in a bonkers housing market, which ran parallel with a total-barking-bananas election season. Finally we found a little house we could afford; we were thrilled and optimistic, even though the timing stunk (how could the…… Continue reading When the brakes fail, and other metaphors
Joy outside the door
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips/Bidding adieu — John Keats, “Ode on Melancholy” August. You again. I lamented your presence a few years back, and I stand by it. This year you also coincide with a hellacious US political sh*tshow featuring an overtly racist, sexist, xenophobic, hate-mongering, spray-tanned stinkbomb of a presidential candidate…… Continue reading Joy outside the door
Novel!
I generally don’t like to announce news here in the blog, which I prefer to keep about the writing process and other (neurotic) writing-life ramblings. But I also do want a note of record and to take a moment to express thanks. Here it is: My first novel, Sycamore, will be published by Harper (HarperCollins)!…… Continue reading Novel!
Lost and found
THE SHEEPISH RETURN Act I, Scene I. Setting: Desk. Chair. Computer. Writer (ME) in mid-40s, hunched, hair frizzing to high heaven. Lights up on ME typing on BLOG. ME: Hey, Blog. ‘Sup? BLOG: New phone. Who dis? ME: Come on, baby. Don’t be like that. BLOG: Don’t ‘baby’ me. You’re the one who hasn’t come…… Continue reading Lost and found
Marking time
*** “Is it okay to be me? … the answer was yes often enough that I went ahead and became her: the writer of plainspoken prose who would not shut up about her grief.”–from Dear Sugar, “The God of Doing it Anyway” *** Today is the day my father died. On this day, twenty years…… Continue reading Marking time
When Are You Coming Home? out today!
My story collection, When Are You Coming Home?, officially lands in the world today! Thanks to everyone at University of Nebraska Press and the Prairie Schooner Book Prize who made this happen (here’s a post from when I first found out). Thanks, too, to current and future readers; it’s a true honor. BC
The Bee in the Window: On Friendship and the Creative Life
The bee, a faux stained-glass sticker, hangs on the corner of my home office window courtesy of Gigi, my college roommate and forever soul mate and all-around crafty gem. Poor old thing (the bee, not Gigi) has lost its buzz over the past decade as I’ve peeled it off for—count ‘em—three cross-state moves. Its wings…… Continue reading The Bee in the Window: On Friendship and the Creative Life
Maps and legends
Oh, little blog, I’ve neglected you so. If you were a garden, you’d be a shriveled, gasping mess of brown stems and dry soil that loose cats have turned into a litterbox. Oops. As usual when I sit down here after an absence, I’m all over the place, squirming and twitchy, struggling to make order…… Continue reading Maps and legends
Final days at Jentel: Draft 1, Done!
Yesterday, in my fourth week at Jentel, with three days left in my residency, this happened… …while I was working here: So today, I did this to celebrate… …knowing that I still have lots and lots of work to do to before the book is actually finished. Still, this place… …has been a little bit…… Continue reading Final days at Jentel: Draft 1, Done!
Bryn Chancellor 