Reading | A. W. Downer

What Are You Reading?

Posted on October 19, 2015 4 Comments

Obviously, I haven’t written in a long time. All of my spare time lately has gone to critique group, including any reading time. I’ve been sort of beating my head against a wall trying to revise based on critique comments. Reading current books (and not-so-current books) is really important to growing as a writer. Reading […]

In Person

Posted on July 28, 2014 Leave a Comment

When I was a kid, I thought meeting a real live published author would be the ultimate experience in the universe. I have met real live published authors now and even had the privelage to work with them I discovered that they’re just normal people like the rest of us. They are a lot of […]

Present Tense

Posted on May 26, 2014 Leave a Comment

I was recently quoted in a friend’s blog post. I had responded to a question on facebook, and of course, I was so stark that my comment was quoted. I said I hated present tense. Now, that’s my preference as a reader. I’m a bit old-fashioned when it comes to what I read. Present tense […]

Close Reading

Posted on March 4, 2013 1 Comment

Recently, I read a book for fun. A very long book. I had a hard time getting into it because nothing happened for the first 15 chapters/144 pages. When something finally did happen, it happened to a secondary POV character, not the protagonist. The protagonist was still just wandering around eating leisurely lunches and being […]

Critical Thesis: Hypertext Narrative

Posted on August 18, 2009 1 Comment

I realize it has been far too long since I updated. Toward the end of last semester I began to really struggle with getting everything done. I often thought of updating, but I couldn’t if I wanted to get everything else done on time. I’m now in my third semester of graduate school, which is […]

Favorite Books of the Semester

Posted on December 16, 2008 2 Comments

I just sent off my end of semester materials. I’m officially done with my first semester of graduate school. (I’m still waiting for my mentor’s response to my packet, though.) I’ve already begun reading for next semester. I’ve been reading books by the faculty members to help me get a feel for their writing styles. […]

Planning for Next Semester Already?

Posted on November 24, 2008 1 Comment

I’m about halfway through with my last packet, and I have two weeks until I have to stick it in the mail. I’ve read a dozen picture books, two novels, two MG non-fiction books, and some other bits and pieces. I’ve also written about 20 pages of my science fiction novel as well as 20 […]