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On Good Writing · April 25 · 9 min

Makeshift Things - Richard Ford

“Stories and novels are makeshift things,” says Richard Ford. “And there is nothing wrong with that.” This week, host Bret Lott shares a longer quote from Ford and reflects on what it has to say to us about the messy process that is writing. Return to On Good Writing next week to hear a quote from Toni Morrison, a Nobel Prize recipient and the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Beloved. Bret Lott is the bestselling author of fifteen books, including the novels ⁠Ancient Highway⁠, ⁠The Hunt Club⁠, ⁠A Song I Knew by Heart⁠, and ⁠Jewel⁠ (an Oprah’s Book Club selection). Formerly editor of ⁠The Southern Review⁠, Lott was appointed to the National Council on the Arts in 2006. He taught creative writing for nearly forty years at the College of Charleston. He and his wife, Melanie, live in the country outside Charleston, South Carolina. On Good Writing is a Cy.press Studios production. Cy.press Studios is a project of the Cypress Writers’ Workshop, a creative writing program supporting writers who seek to master their craft and cultivate the unity between art and reverence. Learn more at ⁠cy.press⁠. The music in this episode is Drifter Hymn by Lane King / Musicbed.com.

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transcript

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show notes

“Stories and novels are makeshift things,” says Richard Ford. “And there is nothing wrong with that.” This week, host Bret Lott shares a longer quote from Ford and reflects on what it has to say to us about the messy process that is writing.

Return to On Good Writing next week to hear a quote from Toni Morrison, a Nobel Prize recipient and the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Beloved.

Bret Lott is the bestselling author of fifteen books, including the novels ⁠Ancient Highway⁠, ⁠The Hunt Club⁠, ⁠A Song I Knew by Heart⁠, and ⁠Jewel⁠ (an Oprah’s Book Club selection). Formerly editor of ⁠The Southern Review⁠, Lott was appointed to the National Council on the Arts in 2006. He taught creative writing for nearly forty years at the College of Charleston. He and his wife, Melanie, live in the country outside Charleston, South Carolina.

On Good Writing is a Cy.press Studios production. Cy.press Studios is a project of the Cypress Writers’ Workshop, a creative writing program supporting writers who seek to master their craft and cultivate the unity between art and reverence. Learn more at ⁠cy.press⁠.

The music in this episode is Drifter Hymn by Lane King / Musicbed.com.

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