The following post, by Sarah Finch, is the third installment of 10, 12th Street Online’s first serial novel. You can read chapters one and two here. We’ll be publishing a new chapter each week. The […]
Kicking the Legs Out
It’s rare in this day and age that films move us to tears. With movies like Beverly Hills Chihuahua and High School Musical 3 topping the charts, the majority of American films do little to […]
A Reader’s Question
I received a semi-anonymous email last week with a plea for advice regarding writer’s block. In lieu of a traditional post this week, I thought I would share my exchange with the writer with you, our readers.
12thstreetonline is meant to be a forum for us to explore writing both personally and professionally, so I hope you guys chime in with advice for our friend in need, and perhaps pitch some queries of your own in regards to your own writing these days.
Dear Anna,
I’m having a severe case of writer’s block. I can’t work on my play, my fiction workshop stuff, anything, and I was wondering if you had any tips? It’s seriously getting to me and I don’t know what to do. Help!
“I was never the kind of girl who grew up dreaming about her Prince/Princess Charming”
Ambulatory sisters— sister somnambulists— sorority of sleep-hikers— we are crossing a bridge. We’ve crossed our uncle & our fiancés will be cross, but we’ve got a long list, a lot of items to cross off. […]
10: Chapter 2
The following post, by J.L. Balderama, is the second installment of 10, 12th Street Online’s first serial novel. You can see chapter one here. We’ll be publishing a new chapter each week. Ballard fell. A […]
Choices, Choices
Zoë’s and Anna’s thoughtful comments about the process of writing last week prompted me to think about how we choose what to write about, and how we go about writing it. Do you tend to […]
I’m Not Going To Write You A Love Song
Or write him a song if you are so inclined. 12th Street got an interesting email this morning and we wanted to pass it along to you, our audience. We encourage you to speak you […]
Hooked On A Feeling
I cannot tell a lie: I was not always a supporter of Barack Obama, our new president elect. Early on in what has proven to be one of the longest presidential campaigns in American history, […]
Children of Our Era
We are children of our era;
our era is political.
Four years ago, I was old enough to vote in my first presidential election. I was living with my parents. I had to brave the terrors of going back to my old high school to cast my ballot. I wore my “I VOTED” sticker all day and into the night, waiting for the results that would validate my efforts and prove that I had made a difference. And then I was crushed.
Breaking Our Expectations
Does an addict have to be a bad person? Zoe Miller asks how to break the expectations when creating a character.
Mother of Us All
“It’s pretty clear to me that Palin has her eyes set on the presidency, so I asked myself what would her platform run on. What identity would they pick to shape her policies? The first thing that came to mind was the Mother Figure”
"I’m As Mad As Hell, and I’m Not Going To Take This Anymore": Does That Make Me Sexist?
Some of you may know that my title comes from the 1976 film Network. The movie exposes the media’s failure to report how Americans really feel during times of war and upheaval and what they […]
Really? No shortcut?
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.” […]
Dancing Girl
Kristy Bowen is a talented poet, visual artist, and editor, and is dedicated to supporting the work of other women poets and artists. 12th Street: What was your inspiration for dancing girl press? Kristy Bowen: […]
Could It Be Writer’s Block?
Hypergraphia is the overwhelming urge to write. According to neurosurgeon Alice Flaherty, author of The Midnight Disease, this urge is triggered by changes in brainwave activity in the temporal lobe. Writers such as Dostoevsky and Lewis Carroll […]
Plumbing Further
My post last week, “Plumbing the Issues,” has raised what I think is a very welcome discussion because it is an important one. Two readers commented. The first discussed my remarks about people who I […]
A Diagonal Slice of New York
This week I had the good fortune of interviewing the editors at New York’s fabled website, overheardinnewyork.com. (OINY) My reasoning behind the choice came from the fact that it’s hugely popular (four million pagehits a […]
Leigh Stein Reads!
Leigh Stein, 12th Street Online’s very own poetry editor, will be reading tomorrow at the New York Society Library for the 13th Annual Amy Awards, at 6pm. You can find her here, a few of […]
Word v. Intent
It was only last Spring that Senator Obama enlightened us about the characteristics of Pennsylvanians, saying, “You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the […]
Tao Lin vs. Hikikomori
Tao Lin is a prolific author, editor, and sometime Gawker rabble rouser. The Stranger calls him “a revolutionary.” 12th Street: You have two collections of poetry out, one novel, a collection of short stories, and […]