tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82633795431191211012024-03-13T22:52:06.821-07:00There Is No Off-SeasonAuthor: Sherri H. HoffmanSherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.comBlogger158125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-53294913498621339082023-06-03T00:09:00.007-07:002024-01-21T22:32:25.139-08:00new poem: out stealing horses"Out Stealing Horses" is published in Red Rock Review Issue 50 (available for purchase) and viewable online in a new digital edition of the issue: Out Stealing Horses.Once when I was a teenager, my mother woke me up to say one of our horses had gotten out and was down the way at old Mr. Arvey's place. We hitched up the trailer and drove down there, I was told to go in and get that horse. Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-47970313180469439592023-04-11T17:00:00.019-07:002023-04-16T15:22:28.560-07:00new poem: on the backs of horsesThis week, a set of four poems appears in The Loch Raven Review (Vol 19 No 1): "On the Backs of Horses," "The Hunted," "Figure Eights," and "Suicide Stories." Their stories come mostly out of a few short, furious years that, in a lot of ways, beat me. During the worst of it, I landed in a space with horses, and in proximity, found some fragment of grace. It was enough. Moving Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-65220091548953710312022-07-15T13:31:00.015-07:002023-02-25T12:42:49.893-08:00new fiction: Big BoatMy newest fiction is a short-short, "Big Boat," coming out in Cirque Journal, #24 Vol. 12 No 2. It is currently posted online at the journal's website: cirquejournal.com The print issue will be available in August, 2022. This story is a tribute piece I wrote in honor of Ernest Hemingway, specifically in response to Old Man and the Sea. It is not directly comparable, especially since my Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-12992843264867119722022-05-31T09:01:00.004-07:002022-05-31T09:04:39.928-07:00film release: Bad BonesWatch this! Bad Bones is a new film by Scott Eggleston, now available on YouTube for full viewing. And it's free! I'm super excited for this film project and hope you enjoy it. Bad Bones is a scifi-horror-mystery written and directed by Scott Eggleston and features Chris Levine and Maddison Bullock.Official website: badbonesmovie.comA man and his dying wife move into a strange house with theSherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-53827156519942607842022-02-14T00:05:00.000-08:002022-06-14T00:05:55.517-07:00new novel excerpt: song on the cornerCormoran Lodge on Lake Kivu, RwandaA new chapter from my novel in progress has been published in Coastal Shelf as a novel excerpt. It's another piece that follows the expatriate doctors in Rwanda. Dr. Gregg Marcus has seniority at the Teaching Hospital since he's been in Kigali longer than any of the other American docs. But he's not himself lately and has stepped down from leadership as Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-53836344717375136022022-01-20T19:39:00.004-08:002022-01-20T19:43:15.901-08:00writing workshop: going verticalJoin me and a small group of writers February 3 and February 10 for a two-part, online workshop about a creative writing strategy I call "vertical movement." New and experienced writers are welcome. We're going to read, write, and talk about creating depth in your fiction with this writing strategy. This is an interactive workshop series. I'll ask you to read two short stories, write toSherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-25046407008333191622021-04-01T11:42:00.007-07:002021-09-02T11:58:09.642-07:0026 - a celebrationLetters in the English alphabet. Black cards in a full deck and, conversely, red cards in a full deck. The atomic number of iron, count of protons and electrons but not its neutrons. President Teddy Roosevelt. Bones in the human foot. The "Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Vote" amendment or, ironically, "Prohibition" plus "Protection against Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-54387614594936641172021-01-06T19:08:00.014-08:002021-01-06T21:34:48.905-08:00postcard war: a stranger comes to town"Pick an apocalypse, any apocalypse." ~ John Gardner, from Grendel Early in the 2020 pandemic under travel restrictions and limitations on gatherings, my brother challenged me to a postcard war. Game on. The rules are simple: the "winner" is the one who sends either the most audacious or highest quantity. I'm an overachiever. I try for both. I created this set with Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-10286689562223360762020-03-29T23:26:00.000-07:002020-04-09T17:54:32.780-07:00new fiction: The Way the Sun Falls on a Threshold
We knew him since we couldn't remember when, but none of us knew how he lost his eye until Maxie Adeline asked him flat out the summer we picked berries for him.
~ from "The Way the Sun Falls on a Threshold," by Sherri H. Hoffman.
Read the complete story online at The Saturday Evening Post, Contemporary Fiction, March 27, 2020.
There was a time when I did not know how to live. Somehow Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-7844121516454123992020-02-12T08:14:00.001-08:002021-01-06T19:50:23.716-08:00Writing Rules Redux
REPOSTED: I tripped over this post today while I was looking for something else and realized that I stand by my own list ten years and two graduate degrees later. SH
Originally posted 3/7/10
Original Post:
Elmore Leonard compiled his writing experience and wrote a list of rules for writers. His 2001 article in the NY Times: WRITERS ON WRITING; Easy on the Adverbs, Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-53991921930004653072018-08-05T18:38:00.002-07:002021-01-11T20:32:14.811-08:00new fiction: The Far Away Smell of Water
Credit: NOAA Climate Program Office,
NABOS 2006 Expedition.
On the television, fishermen were pulling pots of pink and orange crab like giant spiders onto the decks of ships that rolled and bucked over white-crested waves.
"Looks scary," the security guard said. His mouth was round and pink, his face clean-shaven. He wore a blue uniform shirt with gold insignia but had no holster Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-70865108441683299882018-04-30T21:15:00.000-07:002018-04-30T21:16:04.066-07:00no restrictions
I was asked this week what my choice would be if I could teach anything, and I am thinking about baseball. Perhaps because I visited one of my brothers last weekend, and he took me to Baltimore to see my first Orioles game. Perhaps because I simply love baseball.
The potentials are intriguing.
What's your favorite sports novel?
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/* customize grid Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-35243682940357752532017-10-22T14:21:00.001-07:002018-04-15T19:04:13.121-07:0016 random facts: the shortest stories redux
16. I love the rain, which happens at home throughout the year. In Wisconsin, the rains come mostly late summer-early fall, and then again in spring, mixed with snow. In Rwanda, there are downpour rains off and on in January, which is the end of the rainy season, and on the west shore of the Big Island of Hawai'i, the winter rains can be seen coming from a long way out across the ocean most Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-70214926627369023082017-02-02T20:46:00.000-08:002017-02-19T19:11:29.298-08:00new fiction: Fire, Fire
We heard Fire! Fire! and hauled out of bed like it was a real emergency. Pounded out the back door in our boxers and bare feet. Ranger barking. Michael dragging his blanket. The summer was a dark chill on our skins dragged from our blankets. As soon as I guessed it was Lenny, I knew we’d been duped. Pops’ truck wasn’t in the driveway, and mom was still in Indiana keeping her secrets. Saying Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-90758338508825775712016-11-01T11:30:00.000-07:002017-09-17T13:23:11.117-07:00new fiction: The Audrey Hepburn
Meredith wills her voice up her dry throat. "It's a famous design, this dress. Did I tell you? The actress who made it famous?"
The women peer at her, pins held between their lips as their fingers coax the bodice into place. Meredith can't stop talking. Roman Holiday. My Fair Lady. Academy Awards. Lifetime Achievement. She rambles on, sweating and breathless, words spilling out of her Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-84991317779398781502016-10-16T19:16:00.001-07:002021-09-27T22:08:43.316-07:00ghosting reality
In Rwanda, there is an undercurrent of constant motion. Bicycles balancing enormous sacks of potatoes, full sets of furniture, jugs of water. On the road, streams of motos. Children on foot with a goat. Armed men in uniform goosestepping in single file. Women with buckets of wet cement on their heads going up and down the bamboo construction scaffolding. Women with babies tied on their backs. Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-41952890616448276802016-06-23T13:00:00.004-07:002016-06-23T13:04:42.790-07:00news: cimarron review announces release
Cimarron Review announces the release of Issue 195:
https://cimarronreview.com/2016/06/23/our-issue-195/
I am honored to be included in this issue alongside these fine poets and writers. My copies arrived yesterday, and the issue is lovely and full of amazing writing.
Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-87588349478938449762016-06-18T10:33:00.001-07:002017-02-02T18:46:45.217-08:00new fiction: where she stands
Gold-capped Mason jars filled with cut green beans
line the kitchen countertop in orderly rows. On the table, a crate of new
peaches, the irrigation schedule, and a stack of pink flyers: Resurrection Rummage Sale. July 14-15 Friday
and Saturday at Our Holy Redeemer. Bernadette finishes the breakfast dishes
and starts packing the decent hand-me-downs into paper bags. Her mother takes
up the Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-32488526001605510262016-06-08T23:23:00.001-07:002017-02-02T18:47:01.157-08:00new fiction: stained with lime
Nothing in Kigali is what I expect. The city is a swell of hills thick with lights, strings of fog, traffic, and streams of voices. Along the tree-lined street near the hospital, every block is under construction. Bamboo scaffolds cling to the new structures, steel cranes poised between towers of concrete and blue glass. Schools of motos dart to the curb with passengers, helmets over hairnets. Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-60860088156765316912016-04-01T22:21:00.002-07:002016-04-24T20:16:22.623-07:00writing the river
Over the last six months, I've been everywhere but home, which has made writing an interesting endeavor at times. I like my coffee just so, like I like my writing space. Being on the road for so long has given me some insight into what it takes to be adaptable. Not that the journey hasn't been lovely, this long strange trip. Makes me feel lucky.
To acknowledge that it has been challenging Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-79486879158662698032016-02-25T08:55:00.000-08:002016-02-25T08:56:24.918-08:00road trip: NEXUS conference
Grateful for the opportunity to present a paper at the NEXUS 2016 Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference: ALT + Shift: Unlocking Alternative Methodologies and Marginal Positions. This is the 7th biennial graduate conference sponsored by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The conference is March 3-5. My presentation is scheduled for Friday: "The Reluctant Fundamentalist: Using Affect Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-10064813455907362982015-12-08T17:00:00.002-08:002016-02-25T08:57:17.148-08:00poetry + coffee = heaven
What could be better than your favorite cuppa coffee and a poem? Nothing! says the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Literary Circular campaign. This week, The Grind, UWM coffeeshop, will wrap your delicious beverage of choice in select poems by authors Alessandra Rolffs, Franklin K.R. Cline, Jenni Moody, Noel Mariano, Mark Brand, and yours truly, Sherri H. Hoffman.
Come in and warm your Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-84255738631325750212015-11-18T12:19:00.003-08:002015-11-21T12:25:52.090-08:00seven authors, seven mysteries
My new story, "Little Secrets" is included in a new collection, Tudor Close: A Mystery Anthology. You'll never guess the location of this mysterious, small-town story.
PREORDER for $20 before November 30th to receive a print copy, ebook, and an audio recording of the story of your choice from the collection!
In December, the book will be available for $20 (includes print and ebook), $5 forSherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-87858714447828931212015-03-19T10:41:00.002-07:002015-03-20T21:41:25.901-07:00out in the world: tanzaniaOver winter break, I traveled to Rwanda to visit some family, and we took a side-trip to Tanzania. The Ngorongoro Area is a protected reserve that includes the Ngorongoro crater and the Serengeti National Park, stretching all the way to the border of Kenya. I came to understand why there are so many ocean metaphors for this part of the world: the English language lacks descriptors for such Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8263379543119121101.post-23335859384762195202014-08-01T11:00:00.000-07:002014-08-01T19:20:51.217-07:00announcing utah lit for august
Co-editors Kase Johnstun, Sherri Hoffman, Mary Johnstun
I am thrilled to announce that Utah Reflections has been selected by the Salt Lake Tribune as the Utah Lit for August. The Tribune book club will discuss the essays and poetry this month, publish a feature piece on August 24, and host an online TribTalk on August 29 at 12:15pm, moderated by Jennifer Napier-Pearce.
This is some exciting Sherri H. Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07634109559766811545noreply@blogger.com0