Catching Days
is a blog about writing, reading, and life--how they meld, clash, and astonish. It's a net for catching days.How this site works:
One of my stories …
"The Empty Armchair" in Contrary MagazineOne of my essays …
"Childhood" at Numéro CinqOne of my reviews …
Heather Newton's Under The Mercy Trees in Contrary Magazine and republished by the National Book Critics Circle on Powell's Books Review-a-DayCatching Days is one of Powell’s Books “Lit Blogs We Love” !
Favorite Posts
Read with me:
The Forgotten Waltz
by Anne EnrightFeatured Blog: January
Little Shavings from My Ration of Light: Am delighted to discover Victoria's blog with its Tuesday Trifles and its 482 Reasons Why She Needs a Trust Fund. Check it out and you will be delighted too.-
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- New essay by @pam_houston @HungerMtn's The#WritingLife http://t.co/uzINbQfz & her new book pubdate 1 wk from today! #contentsmayhaveshifted 6 days ago
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- RT @so_you_know: been up for a bit. can't recall sleeping. think was writing there too. woke up thinking about words. this time Saul Bel ... 6 days ago
Monthly Archives: August 2009
the music room
The Music Room by Dennis McFarland was published in 1990. I read it the first time in 1991, and then again at the beginning of August–eighteen years later. I enjoyed it just as much. Here, McFarland could be describing his … Continue reading
hot tub in a walk-in closet
Okay, here’s the thing. I got carried away in my post about the detail hunt. When I started writing it, I just wanted to write about how hard it was to catch details and maybe generate a discussion about where … Continue reading
Posted in details, words, writing group
Tagged Fearless Confessions, Oxford American Dictionary, Writing Fiction
19 Comments
a detail hunt
The more I think about Pam Houston’s writing advice (via Henry James), that a writer ought to strive to be “someone on whom nothing is lost,” the more I want to be aware of what is going on around me. … Continue reading
Posted in craft of writing, details, Pam Houston
Tagged Fearless Confessions, Mystery and Manners
18 Comments
the space for me
If your life includes reading, writing, and books, then it’s likely filled with piles of books and papers and other things you’ve cut out or printed for ideas and then there are all the little notes for inspiration and the … Continue reading
a kind of fugue
“There is nothing to be done but go ahead with life moment by moment and hour by hour–put out birdseed, tidy the rooms, try to create order and peace around me even if I cannot achieve it inside me.” May Sarton. … Continue reading
How We Spend Our Days: Pam Houston
Annie Dillard wrote, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” On the first of each month, beginning today, Catching Days will host a guest writer. To inaugurate this monthly series, “How We Spend Our … Continue reading

“It’s hard to tell somebody what you mean to say. And that’s an idea that I’m obsessed with. It’s why I write. It’s why everybody writes.”
--Jonathan Safran Foer