Ancient Grains Archive

Dad Magazine: July 2013

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A Literary Agent Answers Your Fevered Questions

Hi everyone: I'm going to be writing a monthly column here at The Toast for unpublished and published writers looking for advice about really anything. No question is too obscure or strange or boring. Do you want to ask me about how you can get a flow through from your publisher for ...Read More

Match.com Has Closed After Finding Love For Everyone

Dear User, Greetings! After almost 20 years of operation in more than 25 countries on five continents, eight languages, millions of photos, and hundreds of thousands of successful first dates, the time has come for those of us here at Match.com to announce that, as of this Friday, we're closing our doors. It's ...Read More

Not-So-Guilty Pleasures: The Fast and the Furious

There is a moment in The Fast and the Furious, when Dominic “Dom” Toretto, played by Vin Diesel, struts, chest erect, to his classic American muscle car because he’s real angry. He’s wearing a t-shirt stained with dirt and blood, his face is set, and there is purpose in his stride. Someone ...Read More

A Woman For All Seasons: Mary Chapin Carpenter

Remember Mary Chapin Carpenter? Mary is your hard-knock, single aunt, the one who is all, “You look like you need a mojito and a trip to the shooting range,” which are probably the last two things on earth you really need but whatever works. She’s fiercely political, feminist, whip-smart. She has a ...Read More

Hustle and Prose: Agatha Christie

In his 1950 essay, "The Simple Art of Murder," Raymond Chandler gripes: "[t]he average detective story is probably no worse than the average novel, but you never see the average novel. It doesn’t get published. The average--or only slightly above average--detective story does." Among the ...Read More

So You’ve Decided to Get Into a Low-Stakes Fight!

1. Begin with the assumption that you are acting in good faith and your opponent is not. You are trying to get to the bottom of something important, and they are trying to score cheap points. You are perfectly willing to sacrifice your needs, your schedule, your priorities once again for the ...Read More

Heaney From the Back Row

Seeing Seamus Heaney is a bit like seeing someone who should be dead, in that it’s only by the grace of God you’re alive at the same time as him. The stroke he had in 2006 nearly killed him, and now his hands flutter gently when he holds a book. I would ...Read More