The Pitch

Submitted by avivarubin on Mon, 05/14/2012 - 14:25

I recently met with a columnist who’d generously agreed to let me pick her brain. I was nervous and excited and did more nattering on about what I was up to, than I did effective mining of her resources. She did say that her own tips and particular journey might not be that helpful to me. She’d taken a traditional route – journalism, internships at magazines, national newspapers. My route - decades as a bureaucrat followed by the canon ball jump into writerly waters, was another thing altogether.

Should you ever take the reader to the toilet?

Submitted by avivarubin on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 13:01

I got my novel back the other day. A close friend read the first draft and while she liked many things about it, even found herself caught up in the page-turnerness of certain sections, she felt it needed a trim - a shave? a diet? The story is too fat. As someone who struggled with body image and eating disorders my whole adult life an overweight story is a scary thing.

Forgive me my trespasses

Submitted by avivarubin on Sun, 04/29/2012 - 22:33

It’s bad enough to be rejected. My short story didn’t win the Toronto Star competition. I console myself with the belief it's more of a train-of-thought monologue, than a traditional story. Fair enough. But mishaps that remove you from the competition altogether are worse. In this case I had only myself to blame although I’ve spent the last two days identifying who and what else might shoulder that burden.

Friday sucked.

The comforts of complaining

Submitted by avivarubin on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 10:24

My writing landscape looks different than it did a few weeks ago. I have less and more to complain about. I left for Cuba. The Huffington Post accepted a piece. The NYT Motherlode Blog exposed my nudity. Things went from there.

Who the hell did I give remote access to?

Submitted by avivarubin on Sat, 04/14/2012 - 16:47

I was having problems with my Macbook Pro the other day. Painfully slow internet access, intermittent e-mail. Like millions of others, my days don't work without this technology.

Huffpo – Make me or Break me

Submitted by avivarubin on Sun, 04/01/2012 - 22:31

Ever since the Huffington Post invited me to spend my precious unpaid time writing for them, no guarantee of publication, my life has been thrown into a tailspin.

Hola Cuba!

Submitted by avivarubin on Mon, 03/26/2012 - 10:35

I was told by a friend once, after writing a piece about Las Vegas, a place she loves and has been to many times, that it was a downer and depressing and she was sorry I had such a shit time. In fact I had a great time. It’s just Las Vegas is a tough place, a barometer for the US economy that packs so many of the excesses, realities and myths of America into a few bright, shiny, crumbling, over-hydrated miles in the desert. I guess I’m drawn to the shit. So forgive me in advance if I’m being a negative Nellie.

March Break

Submitted by avivarubin on Mon, 03/19/2012 - 19:37

There have been many March breaks (won’t count them for you), but this is the first time we’re joining the queuing throngs at Pearson International Airport.

Meditating on sacred meditation

Submitted by avivarubin on Tue, 03/06/2012 - 07:41

I’m not sure what possessed this Jew to take in the ½ hour lunchtime concert featuring Hymns on the Theme of Christ’s Baptism at Trinity College chapel. Perhaps it’s lifelong suggestions from friends and strangers that meditation would make me a better, calmer, more focused person.

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