My Dinner with Jonathan Franzen

October 29, 2014Eric Michel Uncategorized Tags: Author, Awesome, Book, College, Discomfort Zone, Eric, Good Literature, Jonathan Franzen, Life, Napolese, Novel, The Corrections, Writers, Writing 1 Comment

I got the news a couple weeks ago. It started like any other day. I was bored after classes, and there was no way in hell I was going to start my homework— it was naptime. As is customary, I logged onto my laptop so I could check my email to ensure that I wasn’t missing out on some super-important club meeting that I wasn’t going to attend anyway. My inbox was full of the usual junk: the school newspaper, emails from professors about my classes, porn advertisements, (kidding) the works, until I stumbled upon an email with the subject header that read: You’re Invited to Have Dinner With Writers From the Visiting Writers Series, RSVP. I was ecstatic.

For those of you who don’t know, I attend Butler University in Indianapolis. Each year, they run a program called the Visiting Writers Series, where famous authors from around the country come and speak to the people on campus. The next morning, the author hosts a student-only Q&A in the creative writing center. In past years, Butler has had some pretty big names come to town: Tim O’ Brien, Margaret Atwood, and Jennifer Egan, to name a few. This year, there were some people I’d never heard of before, and one name I had: Jonathan Franzen was scheduled to come on October 28th. Continue reading →

Review: Red Dragon

August 4, 2014Eric Michel OWOB Tags: Author, Book, College, Eric, Good Literature, Hannibal, Hannibal Lecter, Horror, Novel, Red Dragon, Review, Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris, Writers, Writing Leave a comment

If I’ve learned one thing from doing this whole blogging thing, it’s that I really suck at hitting deadlines. Maybe it’s because they are self-imposed and I have no reason to hit them other than to achieve a goal, or maybe it’s because I’m a lazy little shit. I’m going to guess it’s the latter. I could waste more of our time by writing the same intro I always do, giving lame-o excuses and promising to due better, but at this point I don’t see a point. I’m just gonna post what I came to post.

So anyway, if you’ll remember back to here, I was reading Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. Well, I finished it…like a month ago. It took me three days after I got done with Angels and Demons to get through. I knew exactly what I was gonna say in this review post, too, but my laziness took over so I’m just now getting around to it. Continue reading →

Review: Angels & Demons

July 8, 2014July 8, 2014Eric Michel OWOB Tags: Angels and Demons, Author, Awesome, Book, Dan Brown, Eric, Good Literature, Novel, OWOB, Review, Writers, Writing 1 Comment

Well, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is, I just finished my ninth book of the year, leaving us only two shy of last year’s paltry total of 11. Since we’re pretty much at the halfway point of the year, I’d say we could double last year’s total pretty easily. The bad news is that there is no way we’re gonna get to 52. I knew I was taking on a big task when I set that goal, but I had no idea how much time it would take. It made reading a chore, took the fun out of it. That wasn’t what I wanted to do. Anyway, Angels and Demons is done, so now for my thoughts. Continue reading →

Review: Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

June 19, 2014June 16, 2015Eric Michel OWOB Tags: Author, Awesome, Book, Eric, Good Literature, Horror, Mr. Mercedes, New book, Novel, OWOB, Review, SK, Stephen King, Writers, Writing Leave a comment

Wow, it’s been a while. A lot longer than I anticipated, actually. In short, a few things have happened since we last talked—rather, I talked at you guys, and you guys skimmed through to the important stuff. For one, my laptop is fixed and ready to go so I no longer have to rely on my family members for some computer time. The other thing is, it’s summer… and I have slept too much of it away. I know I NEED to be productive, so each night I set my alarm for 7:30. That should give me plenty of time to eat breakfast, work out, read my Bible and what not, and be ready to sit down and write by 9:00. The problem is that I’m a teenager, and I have the sleep habits of one. It’s rather difficult for me to say no to an extra 2-3 hours of sleep when I technically don’t have to be doing anything. I haven’t gotten up earlier than 9:30 at all this summer, and I usually sleep till 11. But THAT’S why I haven’t posted as much as I said I would. I know, my priorities are mixed up.

Anyhow, a while back I picked up Stephen King’s newest book, Mr. Mercedes. Those of you that have been with me from the beginning know that I had the ludicrous goal of trying to review 52 books in 52 weeks—that idea has since gone by the wayside. I’m gonna post whatever I want, although I will review anything I read. This book is still new& relevant, so I figured I’d read it and tell you guys if it’s worth your dough. Continue reading →

The Top 5: Authors Who Have Influenced My Writing

April 19, 2014Eric Michel The Top 5 Tags: Alex Rider, Artemis Fowl, Author, Awesome, Book, Charlotte's Web, DJ MacHale, E.B. White, Eric, Everything's Eventual, George R.R. Martin, Good Literature, Horror, It, Joe Hill, Novel, Pendragon, Scary, SK, Stephen King, The Top 5, TTF, Writers 2 Comments

Hey, everyone. You may be shocked to see a post from me in the middle of the week*, but as I said before, I am going to try to be a bit more active on my website. So I did a lot of thinking, and basically I came up with one idea: The Top 5 ____ Continue reading →

Review: Total Frat Move

April 12, 2014April 13, 2014Eric Michel OWOB Tags: Author, Awesome, Book, College, Eric, Fraternities, Life, Novel, OWOB, Total Frat Move, Writers Leave a comment

This one wasn’t so much for you guys as it was for me. If you’ve been keeping up with my posts semi-regularly, you probably know that I’m leaving for college in August. I’m really excited, and I’m pretty sure I’m gonna rush a frat. As I was in my future college’s bookstore the other day, I saw this book… I had a 20% off coupon that expired in May and I knew that if I didn’t buy something then said coupon would not be spent. Long story short: I bought the book. My opinions will forever be mixed. Continue reading →

NYC, College, + OWOB Status!

April 9, 2014April 9, 2014Eric Michel Uncategorized Tags: Author, Awesome, Book, College, Eric, Good Literature, High School, Life, New York City, Novel, NYC, OWOB, Scientology, Senior, Writers Leave a comment

I said in my last post that I’d try to post mid-week… Well, it is in fact mid week, just a week later than I planned for. Right now I am on Spring Break, so I figured now would be a nice time for an update. Continue reading →

Review: Divergent

March 29, 2014March 29, 2014Eric Michel OWOB Tags: Author, Book, Divergent, Eric, Life, Meh, Movie, Novel, Overrated, OWOB, Review, Veronica Roth, Writers 1 Comment

“Dude, you need to read Divergent. It’s really good.”

“Just read Divergent, man! You won’t regret it. You’ll finish it in like two days.”

“You better hurry up and read Divergent before the movie comes out!”

Well, I read the damn book. I read it, and I may be the only one in America to dislike it. Continue reading →

The Frustrations of a High School Senior

March 1, 2014March 1, 2014Eric Michel Uncategorized Tags: Author, Book, College, Complaints, Eric, High School, Life, Novel, Review, Senior, Writers 1 Comment

Care to take a guess on whether or not I have a book done this week? You probably shouldn’t guess, because if you have enough faith in me to say yes, you’d be incorrect-o. Care to take a guess at why? No? Well here it is: School wastes so much of my time that it’s ridiculous. I look at it as a necessary evil, but I’m convinced the format to high school is all wrong. I have very little time every night to do what I want–that includes reading and writing. Continue reading →

Big News!

February 22, 2014Eric Michel Uncategorized Tags: Author, Awesome, Book, Good Literature, Novel, Scary, Writers Leave a comment

El oh el. Ha ha ha.

I’m not going to beat around the bush this week: I still have not finished that Scientology book. I like it; I’m just not done. I had a problem this week; said problem prohibited me from reading. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a pretty good problem to have.

I started my first novel. All the work I spent on Presidents’ Day led to the first few pages of my baby. I have high hopes of finishing this one, although it could very easily wind up novella-length. I have yet to know exactly where it’s going, but I’ll make sure to keep you all posted. I’m pretty pumped.

As for the short story that I said I’d have done: It kind of is. It’s nothing new, but I think it’s probably publishable. I wrote it for a Writer’s Digest contest sometime last year. I didn’t win anything, but I’m still pretty proud of it…the only reason I hesitate to put it on the web is because it is rather vulgar and I have family members that don’t really approve of that stuff, so trying to convince them to read something that says “fuck” a few times wouldn’t be the easiest thing in the world. I’m going to ask my writer-friend to look it over and see what he thinks… I may end up rewriting the damn thing all together, but the story will find its way on the interwebs one day soon.

On a more personal note, I’ve narrowed my college choices down to two. Originally, I was trying to get into Columbia University to pursue my BA in English. I’m no longer doing that,(I’ll never know if I would have actually been admitted or not) and instead I’m going to study at either Butler University or IU. I have yet to decide, but I’m sure I’ll be able to develop anywhere I go.

I know this wasn’t a book review, (and if you followed me strictly for those I apologize; they will be back!) but it was all stuff I needed to say. You might have been able to do without the college details, but this is my website and I like to talk about what’s going on in my life. It beats talking to my dog, anyway.

PS- The whole reading thing will continue…but, it’s going to have to take a backseat to my novel and other writing projects. I may just cut the list down to what I have now. It all depends.

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