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Telling the Story (Or Learning Not to Write Like an Academic)
I wrote a couple of months ago about searching for an appropriate way to end Woolson’s biography, so I should be done with the manuscript, right? Not exactly. This summer, I have reached a new stage in...
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Keeping Woolson in My Life
It hasn’t been easy to keep Woolson in my life since I returned to teaching this fall. I’ve taught her stories “Miss Grief” and “Jeannette” in my American Literature Survey class. But presenting a...
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Publisher Found–Now Comes the Hardest Part of All
I am happy to report that my biography of Woolson has found a publisher. Here is the announcement that appeared in Publisher’s Marketplace: Professor at University of New Orleans Anne Boyd Rioux’s...
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The First Key to Woolson’s Life
Back to revising chapter one. I have already cut out 600 words–no small feat. But there is one piece that could never be removed. Although Constance was only weeks old when it happened, it would shape...
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Constance Fenimore Woolson’s Room of Her Own, Part I
The grading is done, the semester is over, and the manuscript beckons. As my mind tries to find its way back into the book, I have been re-reading Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. I have copied...
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The Portrait of a Lady Novelist
The working title for my biography of Woolson obviously refers to Henry James’s now-classic novel. Let me explain why I chose it. After reading The Portrait of a Lady, Woolson wrote to the author about...
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On To the Next Phase
I’ve been in my writing cocoon for a while now. But I am happy to say that a full draft of the manuscript of my Woolson biography is complete and now in the hands of my brilliant editor, Amy Cherry at...
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Challenge To a (Woman) Writer’s Credibility
Perhaps I shouldn’t be shocked, but I was when I read the Washington Post’s review of Karen Abbott’s new book, Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, about four women who participated in the Civil War....
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Out of the Box
Publishing online is a quite an experience for an academic. Last week I published two pieces—one I had written a couple of months ago, the other I had written very recently. The first, a review of...
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One Year to Launch–Process Begins
Over the past two weeks, a flurry of emails and a phone call from my editor and her assistant has signaled that the production process for my biography has begun. Incredibly, Norton had its “launch”...
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Italian Memories, Pt. III
Today I will revisit Rome, the final stop on my 2013 trip to walk in Woolson’s footsteps in England and Italy. I visited the Forum, saw the Coliseum, and battled with the crowds at the Vatican. (I gave...
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A Lady’s Vindication: Writing a Woman’s Biography
Today my review of Lady Byron and Her Daughters, by Julia Markus, appeared at the Los Angeles Review of Books. In it I address what it means to write the biography of a woman overshadowed by a famous...
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One Year to Launch–Process Begins
Over the past two weeks, a flurry of emails and a phone call from my editor and her assistant has signaled that the production process for my biography has begun. Incredibly, Norton had its “launch”...
View ArticleClik here to view.
One Year to Launch–Process Begins
Over the past two weeks, a flurry of emails and a phone call from my editor and her assistant has signaled that the production process for my biography has begun. Incredibly, Norton had its “launch”...
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