Category Archives: writing

Jan 22 2009
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writing

Tim Elhajj in Brevity 29

brevitylogox 

Brevity 29, the January 2009 edition, has hit the Web. I’ve got a story in this one, so I’m excited.

I’ve also still got a job, despite the carnage to the Seattle tech industry this morning. Good luck to anyone who may have lost theirs today. And if that’s not enough to make me feel grateful, this afternoon the police responded to reports of an armed gunman in the woods behind my kids’ elementary school. No one was hurt, but the school was locked down when Holly went to pick them up tonight.

Jesus. You gotta hope the dead don’t rise with the moon tonight.

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Jan 08 2009
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writing

My Dad is My Hero: Tributes to the Men Who Gave Us Life, Love, and Driving Lessons

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Susan Reynolds just wrote to tell me that the anthology of stories about fathers with an excerpt from my childhood memoir is available on Amazon now. It’s not going to be available until May 18, but you can always do your Father’s Day shopping early.

I just realized I get to buy someone a Father’s Day gift this year!

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Jan 05 2009
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writing

Raymond Carver On Writing

Ray Carver

Writers write, and they write, and they go on writing, in some cases long after wisdom and even common sense have told them to quit. There are always plenty of reasons—good, compelling reasons, too—for quitting, or for not writing very much or very seriously. (Writing is trouble, make no mistake, for everyone involved, and who needs trouble?) But once in a great while lightning strikes, and occasionally it strikes early in the writer’s life. Sometimes it comes later, after years of work. And sometimes, most often, of course, it never happens at all…. But it will never, never happen to those who don’t work hard at it and who don’t consider the act of writing as very nearly the most important thing in their lives, right up there next to breath, and food, and shelter, and love, and God.

—Raymond Carver (introduction, Best American Short Stories 1986)

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Oct 09 2008
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writing

Brevity, Briefly

The Brevity blog is now using the Journalist theme, which includes a little word balloon for the tag line. I love how it makes the old dude in the Brevity icon look like he is offering concise writing advice. 

I have a piece forthcoming at Brevity, the magazine. It’s an essay called Jimi Don’t Play Here No More. Most of the authors who published stories in the recent issue of Brevity have also written blog posts on the Brevity blog. These posts offer the writer’s opinion on their piece or some insight into how it was written. Even though I hadn’t been asked, I already wrote a blog post about my story, Jimi Don’t Player Here No More. Can you tell I’m excited?

This is my first published story about using dope or my ordeal in New York City.

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Sep 23 2008
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writing

How I Got My Story Published in the New York Times: The Truth of the Matter

 

When Dan Jones of the New York Times called about publishing one of my stories for Modern Love, I was delighted. I was also determined not to let him know I had a drug history. Dan had emailed me that he thought my story might work well for Father’s Day and wanted to discuss it more by phone. I immediately thought: Don’t tell him about the drugs. He’ll think you’re a loser. But then when he called, we talked for less than five minutes before my drug history came up.

It went something like this:

“So if your son was in Pennsylvania with your ex-wife, what were you doing in New York City?” Dan asked.

I chuckled demurely. Lying seemed like a bad idea.

“Well,” I said taking a deep breath. “That’s another story.”

Continue reading →

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Sep 03 2008
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writing

Back to School Special

Today is the second day of the teacher’s strike. To try to appease the back to school gods, I have posted another excerpt from my coming-of-age memoir. Everyone has a story about facing the generation gap with their parents: this one is mine. I hope you like it.

Slacks

Coming down the third floor stairs, I hear Mom call to me from inside her bedroom. I have been looking for ways to make up with her, so I quickly poke my head into the room and find her sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Listen,” she says to me with no preamble. “I got no money for your school clothes this year.”

I look at her confused. Lack of money is always a complaint, but this comment seems uncomfortably targeted towards me.

“I’m buying for all the others,” Mom says. “You get your dad to take care of you.”

“Dad?” I ask, panic in my voice. I have been avoiding Dad since my failed attempt to steal the car radio from his van, but that’s not what alarms me.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

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Jul 21 2008
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writing

Raymond Carver on Insight

What good is insight? It only makes things worse.

-Raymond Carver.

I found this lovely Carver quote in a wonderful little book about how to write memoir by Abigail Thomas called, Thinking About Memoir.

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Jul 12 2008
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writing

Page of True Stories

4-8-2007 016

I added a page to the site where I can showcase my writing.

I added one new piece and put some links top stuff I’ve already discussed in other posts. The title of the new essay is 20/20. This one earned kind comments from an editor who rejected it. I hope you like it.

On the new page, I’ve got links to the New York Times article and to my essay on Brevity. I believe my Brevity story is going to come down at some point, so I thought I’d get some other stuff posted. I added two stories from my childhood memoir project that I previously posted, but now on pages of their own. 

Things still looks a little sparse, so I’ll try and get some other stuff up soon.

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Jun 17 2008
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writing

Tim Elhajj at Brevity

I’ve got an essay appearing in a special mid-summer bonus edition of Brevity 27. This is a companion piece to my Modern Love essay from earlier this week. The Modern Love essay examines my relationship with my son, while the Brevity piece explores my relationship with Dad.

The Brevity piece also appears on the Brevity blog, a great place to discuss creative non-fiction, truth in memoir, or the concept of a mid-summer pick me up.

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Jun 14 2008
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writing

Tim Elhajj in Modern Love

07-05-2005 (197)

I have an essay appearing in the New York Times this weekend. I wrote this one right after Timmy graduated high school, and we took all the kids to New York City that summer (that’s Timmy in Central Park).

Earlier this year I came across the essay on my thumb drive, cleaned it up, and sent it to my writing group, who then helped me hammer out the rough edges. I’m still a little amazed Modern Love picked it up.

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