“My late father, Maurice Zolotow, was a Hollywood biographer, a professional freelance writer and passionate reader. Whenever I went through hard times, personally or professionally, Maurice could be counted on to tell me two things. The first was advice: ‘Write your way out of it!’ he’d bark, directively. But then, more thoughtfully, he’d say, ‘It’s all material, Cres. Nothing is wasted on the writer.’
The last thing I should have been doing that day was cleaning. It was a Monday in early spring. I was getting ready to travel the following Saturday. Travel, from this isolated spot in Vermont, is as segmented as a centipede. First, you drive an hour and 50 minutes from home to the airport nearest us (BDL, at Hartford, Connecticut)…. Read More
“These are words I’ve lived and written by; they have allowed me to find meaning and purpose in every age, stage, experience adventure and misadventure in life. Here, I do it again, focusing on our lives, mine and yours, as writers. I give some advice; I tell some stories.
"Thanks for the title, Maurice.”
dreaming, as winer holds spring: “rare hare of hope”, part two
I write these words on Easter, that holiday which represents a triumphant e resurrection. It also coincides, at least here in Northeast America, with the resurrection of the year itself. The seasonal clock ticks loudly, rousing nature audibly from the deep sleep of winter (which, in Vermont and points north, looks so like death, but, of course, isn't), and into… Read More
II
: Now why David, a documentary filmmaker once nominated for an Academy Award (for the film People of the Wind), decided to take on this job was a bit mysterious to me, but in seven years with the man, I've come to accept that I don't have to understand his decisions to admire the enthusiasm and dedication with which he… Read More
2010: this is the year you write your memoir
Will 2010 be the year you write your memoir? Yes — if you take “This is the Year You Write Your Memoir” , an extended 12-session course (3 day-long workshops; 9 3-hour evening classes) and if you’re ready to put in the reading and writing time outside of class; probably the equivalent of 45 minutes to an hour daily, or… Read More
build your writing practice
Crescent’s new one-day workshop What’s a writing practice? Practice makes practice. No calling or enterprise worthy of the name is ever perfected or learned just once.“A writing practice” means that you make writing a regular part of your life. That simple; that complex. Whether you are just beginning to write or undertaking your first (or fifteenth) novel, whether you write… Read More
Redecoration, Part Two: Flambe
Sometimes, I swear I can still smell the smoke. Exactly two months and seventeen days after I became the legal owner of the farm, its kitchen exploded. On the face of it, this might be a humiliating thing for a cookbook author to confess, let alone one who also once set her hair on fire during a cooking demonstration (accidentally,… Read More
nixing the f-word:
I like the kind of menus where ingredients are sourced. You know, "Salad of Hill Farm Limestone Lettuce with Iowa Maytag Blue-Cheese, Terra Ranch Scallions & Peaches, Sonoma County Olive Oil & Meyer Lemon." I have been known to drive twenty miles, or walk twenty blocks, out of my way to eat at a Persian or vegetarian restaurant, or even… Read More
ABOUT FEARLESS WRITING™ WITH CRESCENT DRAGONWAGON
Crescent Dragonwagon’s Fearless Writing™ is for working writers, and writers who are “blocked”, would-be, or just-starting-out. It’s even for many people who may not think of themselves as writers… yet. As writers and as humans, we all periodically find ourselves stopped. By doubt in our own abilities. By uncertainties about the direction or style of particular piece of writing (or… Read More
fearless alumni
testimonials: what Fearless alumni say “Crescent Dragonwagon’s Fearless Writing course is inspiring and original. I loved it, and recommend it often and enthusiastically to both established and aspiring writers. “ — Julia Child, television personality, chef and author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Fearless Writing alumni (Providence, Rhode Island, 2000) * ” I entered the class certain that I… Read More
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