He got up and sat on the edge of the bedstead with his back to the window. “It’s better not to sleep at all,” he decided. There was a cold damp draught from the window, however; without getting up he drew the blanket over him and wrapped himself in it. He was not thinking of anything and did not want to think. But one image rose after another, incoherent scraps of thought without beginning or end passed through his mind. He sank into drowsiness. Perhaps the cold, or the dampness, or the dark, or the wind that howled under the window and tossed the trees roused a sort of persistent craving for the fantastic. He kept dwelling on images of flowers, he fancied a charming flower garden, a bright, warm, almost hot day, a holiday—Trinity day. A fine, sumptuous country cottage in the English taste overgrown with fragrant flowers, with flower beds going round the house; the porch, wreathed in climbers, was surrounded with beds of roses. A light, cool staircase, carpeted with rich rugs, was decorated with rare plants in china pots. He noticed particularly in the windows nosegays of tender, white, heavily fragrant narcissus bending over their bright, green, thick long stalks. He was reluctant to move away from them, but he went up the stairs and came into a large, high drawing-room and again everywhere—at the windows, the doors on to the balcony, and on the balcony itself—were flowers. The floors were strewn with freshly-cut fragrant hay, the windows were open, a fresh, cool, light air came into the room. The birds were chirruping under the window, and in the middle of the room, on a table covered with a white satin shroud, stood a coffin. The coffin was covered with white silk and edged with a thick white frill; wreaths of flowers surrounded it on all sides. Among the flowers lay a girl in a white muslin dress, with her arms crossed and pressed on her bosom, as though carved out of marble. But her loose fair hair was wet; there was a wreath of roses on her head. The stern and already rigid profile of her face looked as though chiselled of marble too, and the smile on her pale lips was full of an immense unchildish misery and sorrowful appeal. Svidrigaïlov knew that girl; there was no holy image, no burning candle beside the coffin; no sound of prayers: the girl had drowned herself. She was only fourteen, but her heart was broken. And she had destroyed herself, crushed by an insult that had appalled and amazed that childish soul, had smirched that angel purity with unmerited disgrace and torn from her a last scream of despair, unheeded and brutally disregarded, on a dark night in the cold and wet while the wind howled
The Blog
10 Ways Writing Helped Me Overcome Addiction & Trauma 
Guest post by Said Shaiye Mary Karr, in THE ART OF MEMOIR, once wrote: “If you think writing a memoir can replace therapy, stop writing and go get therapy.” So I stopped writing and went to therapy. Then I realized therapy wouldn’t be enough. So how did I overcome years of serious addiction and begin […]
Read More Interview with Nathan Englander Back in 2007, I interviewed Nathan Englander about his book, “The Minister of Special Cases.” I published a highly condensed version of the interview inside the literary magazine, “The Southern California Review.” But I’ve never before released the audio, and after finding it in my archives, I realized this might be a fascinating listen for […]
Read More How to Self-Publish a Board Book Guest Post by Courtney Langdell Board books are a no-brainer for the 0-3 age group. Those thick, laminated, impossible-to-rip pages are perfect for sticky, unpredictable little hands. But they’re also expensive to print one at a time…so expensive that companies like Amazon KDP and IngramSpark refuse to print them on demand. But that’s no reason […]
Read More Crafting Your Author Bio: 5 Tips for New Writers Guest post by Lizeth De La Luz Congratulations! You are ready to hit a new milestone in your writing career: crafting your author bio. Whether you are submitting to a magazine, contest, agent, publishing house, or finishing up you About You section on your website, your author bio will always be one of the most important things […]
Read More How to use ChatGPT to Copyedit Your Book Goldman Sachs estimates that 300 millions jobs will be replaced by AI in the coming years, and one of those jobs will be copy editor. In 1 – 2 years, the vast majority of freelance copy editors will be out of work. Yes, most publishers will retain copy editors to make sure everything is tip-top, […]
Read More 26 Ways Novelists can use ChatGPT This post isn’t about getting ChatGPT to write an entire book for you. If that’s what you want, then go elsewhere. This is about ways that fiction writers can harness AI programs to help them write, edit and promote their work. It’s about using the power of technology to level up your writing skills. Human+AI […]
Read More How Children’s Book Authors can Land Agents Guest Post by Vicky Weber If you’ve decided on traditional publishing for your children’s book, you may be considering a literary agent to represent you. The thing is…you don’t just hire a literary agent—they have to accept you! But that can be trickier than you’d think. In this post, we’ll answer your burning questions about how […]
Read More 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Native American Characters Guest Post by Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer Illustration by Paul King (Choctaw) How can you write about Native Americans without offending someone, or totally botching the culture? As a Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma tribal member and a full-time author, I have a unique understanding and empathy for authors who attempt to write about Native Americans. In […]
Read More When Will A.I. Start Writing Novels? (Soon. Very Soon) In five to ten years, A.I. programs will be writing novels. Not great novels, certainly, but readable novels. Many writers and readers might scoff at that kind of prediction, but for those who disagree, try proposing a different timeline: 15 years? 20 years? Well, in the span of human history, that’s not too distant, is […]
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