PAULA WHYMAN
curiouswriter

In which we wonder about writing, food, music,  
& random curious events. 





Read "Sand People," in Gravity Dancers edited by Richard Peabody, founder & editor of Gargoyle Magazine, Paycock Press.



On the Nightstand Now



Philip Roth, Portnoy's Complaint
Julian Barnes, The Sense of An Ending
Anne Enright, The Forgotten Waltz
Elia Kazan, Elia Kazan: A Life
Katherine Ellison, Buzz: My Year of Paying Attention
Memorable Days, The Selected Letters of James Salter and Robert Phelps
Dylan Landis, Normal People Don't Live Like This
Mary Roach, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science & Sex
Kate Atkinson, Started Early, Took My Dog


Curiouswriter Book Club Picks

Okay, so I'm not in a book club. But that means I get to read whatever I want...

Birds of America by Lorrie Moore
The Adderall Diaries by Stephen Elliott
Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
Creating Fiction edited by Julie Checkoway
A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You by Amy Bloom
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Don't I Know You? by Karen Shepard
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
The Human Stain by Philip Roth
You Are Not a Stranger Here by Adam Haslett (stories)
Up for Renewal by Cathy Alter (memoir)
Eva Moves the Furniture by Margot Livesey
The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford
None to Accompany Me by Nadine Gordimer
The Irresponsible Self: On Laughter and the Novel by James Wood (essays)
Don't Make a Scene by Valerie Block
The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue
Desperate Characters by Paula Fox
















Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

-Albert Einstein


NOW­ on CuriousBlog:

Google's New Privacy Policy Signals Time to Opt Out--of Google
The Rose Garden: Short Story Now Online at REDUX
Hazards of Suburban Living: New Classes at Politics & Prose
Art & Lit Round-Up: Gargoyle #57 Out Now!
Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules for Writers
The Nobodies Album Book Trailer Is Here!





My short short, "Another Story," is now out in Gargoyle #57. Check it out.

Check out my Rumpus Interview with Dave Engelhardt, past pro-bono lawyer for Gitmo detainees.

How do you know he's a witch? Rumpus Mini-Interview #31, in which I talk with SM Shrake about his interesting obsession.

Also see Rumpus Mini-Interview #19: In which I chat with artist Tim Guthrie, and he comes clean about an unusual anti-war project.
­­
Read my take on
"The REAL Writing Life"
at
­ Leslie Pietrzyk's

Work-in-Progress blog




TWO SITES THAT ROCK THE SUBURBS


Check out my blog [Note New Link], SEMI-CHARMED LIFE, at Bethesda Magazine's new and improved destination website. The blog focuses on the absurdities of suburban life. New columns are posted every Monday, or thereabouts.

And, in case you can't get enough of suburban absurdity, please visit BETHESDA WORLD NEWS, our own local online parody newspaper. Stories include: Snowflake Paralyzes Metro Area and Bethesda Elementary Discovers First Ungifted Child

Sketch by Reinhard Michl, VCCA, 2009




In the Washington Post:
My essay, Check Please: When the Menu is a Minefield, is online now in the Washington Post Food section, and in the March 31, 2010 print edition.

Thanks to all who stopped in for Free Range, the food section's online chat. In case you missed it, the transcript is now available.





NEW FICTION


My story, "Sand People," is out in Gravity Dancers, an anthology edited by Richard Peabody, founder of Gargoyle magazine.

More than 250 people attended the reading and panel discussion on
Sunday, July 19 at 5pm, at Politics & Prose bookstore.

Readers/​panelists included:

Michelle Brafman, acting as emcee, with
Maud Casey
Ellen Herbert
Kyi May Kaung
Raima Larter
Molly Woods Murchie
Judith Turner-Yamamoto
Paula Whyman (yup, me)
Joyce Madelon Winslow
Laura Zam





Paula Whyman, Richard Peabody, Maud Casey at Politics & Prose, Washington, DC









Johns Hopkins University Masters of Arts in Writing Program
and American Independent Writers present…



PUSHING THE ELECTRONIC ENVELOPE EVEN FARTHER!

Using Cyberspace to Advance Your Career


Join me for a discussion about

"More Writer's Website Do's and Don'ts: How to Take Your Writing Website to the Next Level and Find Work Online"


Saturday, October 3, 2009
Registration @​ 8:30 a.m. · Program Starts @​ 9:00 a.m.

Bernstein-Offit Building
1717 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036

Metro: Red line, Dupont Circle

Speakers include

  • Deborah Ager, Founder Online Marketing Strategy Firm Click Wisdom (@​clickwisdom)
  • Shashi Bellamkonda, Social Media Swami at Network Solutions (@​shashib)
  • Thursday Bram, Professional Blogger and Freelance Writer (@​thursdayb)
  • Austin Camacho, Author and Expert in Marketing Books through Social Media (@​ascamacho)
  • Jen Consalvo, Co-Founder of Technology Startup Shiny Heart Ventures (@​noreaster)
  • Dori Kelner, Principal at Visual Communications Firm Sleight of Hand Studios (@​dorikelner)
  • Jill Kurtz, Chief Operating Officer at Balance Interactive and Communications/​PR Expert (@​jakprpro)
  • Mayra Ruiz-McPherson, Founder of Ruiz-McPherson Communications (@​marketingmisfit)
  • Nancy Shute, Blogger and Contributing Editor at US News & World Report (@​nancyshute)
  • Jeff Taylor, Millennial Marketer and Senior Online Analyst at New Media Strategies
  • Laurie White, Blogger, Photographer, and Contributing Editor at BlogHer (@​lauriewrites)


Follow the link for a detailed agenda and more about the speakers.




On the "Baking for Writers" page: I'm baking bread with master chef Mark Furstenberg in the Washington Post





EVENTS

Mark Your Calendar…

JUST ONE NIGHT

with
STEPHEN ELLIOTT

MEET THE AUTHOR
in his ONLY Washington, DC, reading

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009

“Elliott may be writing under the influence, but it’s the influence of genius.” [Vanity Fair]

Acclaimed author of novel, Happy Baby, will talk and read from his highly praised memoir, THE ADDERALL DIARIES: A Memoir of Moods, Masochism, & Murder


Arrive at 6:30 Eat, drink, and chat with the author in an intimate setting.
Program 7:00-9:00 p.m. This program is FREE. You pay only for what you eat and drink.
Location: TEAISM Penn Quarter • 8th & D St., NW (400 8th St., NW) • (202) 638-6010
Metro: Blue line Archives/Navy Mem’l, Federal Triangle or Yellow/Red line, Gallery Place
RSVP: rsvp at aiwriters dot org or paula at paulawhyman dot com
Books will be available for purchase • Credit cards accepted.

Sponsored by American Independent Writers (AIW)







Selected Works

Fiction

Sexual and racial tensions in a classroom threaten to explode as a young teen faces choices that will haunt her in adulthood. ORDER HERE

A young girl in Thailand is sold into prostitution by her mother.

A woman is haunted by events from the past that threaten to disturb her domestic life.

A man battles neighbors to build his dream house, while his son resists the pull of the family heritage.

A bored housewife has a sexual encounter with a utility worker, with disastrous results.

A psychologist confuses fantasy and reality as she travels alone for the first time after her divorce.
Humor
Dining out with dietary issues, and Twizzlers. From the Washington Post.