John Willingham
@jwillinghamtx.bsky.social
Novel The Last Woman TCU Press 08/15/2025. Fiction, essays in Southwest Review, Texas Observer online, Religion Dispatches, History News Network, San Antonio Review, SW Historical Quarterly, etc. Austin-ish
www.johnwillingham.net
www.johnwillingham.net
"In 2023 almost half of Americans didn’t finish a single book. Surveys show that a big loser is fiction. Perhaps this plague of illiteracy has played a role in the disappearance of truth and, with it, liberal democracy." George Packer
bit.ly/49xZtQd
bit.ly/49xZtQd
A Post-Literate Age
Journalism and fiction are both essential to a thriving democracy.
bit.ly
November 2, 2025 at 3:23 PM
"In 2023 almost half of Americans didn’t finish a single book. Surveys show that a big loser is fiction. Perhaps this plague of illiteracy has played a role in the disappearance of truth and, with it, liberal democracy." George Packer
bit.ly/49xZtQd
bit.ly/49xZtQd
Reposted by John Willingham
"We cannot deeply love anything without becoming vulnerable to loss. And we cannot become separate people, responsible people, connected people, reflective people without some losing and leaving and letting go."
On necessary losses: www.themarginalian.org/2023/11/21/n...
On necessary losses: www.themarginalian.org/2023/11/21/n...
Necessary Losses: The Life-Shaping Art of Letting Go
“We cannot deeply love anything without becoming vulnerable to loss. And we cannot become separate people, responsible people, connected people, reflective people without some losing and leav…
www.themarginalian.org
September 15, 2025 at 9:06 PM
"We cannot deeply love anything without becoming vulnerable to loss. And we cannot become separate people, responsible people, connected people, reflective people without some losing and leaving and letting go."
On necessary losses: www.themarginalian.org/2023/11/21/n...
On necessary losses: www.themarginalian.org/2023/11/21/n...
Reposted by John Willingham
“Our age not only does not have a very sharp eye for the almost imperceptible intrusions of grace, it no longer has much feeling for the nature of the violence which precede and follow them.”—Flannery O’Connor
September 15, 2025 at 6:42 PM
“Our age not only does not have a very sharp eye for the almost imperceptible intrusions of grace, it no longer has much feeling for the nature of the violence which precede and follow them.”—Flannery O’Connor
Reposted by John Willingham
We need an HHS Secretary who respects science and does not make policy based on conspiracy theories.
Vaccines are safe and effective.
Kennedy is threatening the health of our kids and all Americans.
He must resign.
Vaccines are safe and effective.
Kennedy is threatening the health of our kids and all Americans.
He must resign.
September 4, 2025 at 7:59 PM
We need an HHS Secretary who respects science and does not make policy based on conspiracy theories.
Vaccines are safe and effective.
Kennedy is threatening the health of our kids and all Americans.
He must resign.
Vaccines are safe and effective.
Kennedy is threatening the health of our kids and all Americans.
He must resign.
Reposted by John Willingham
“We live only as long as someone remembers us. Only as long as someone cares.”
August 27, 2025 at 2:29 AM
“We live only as long as someone remembers us. Only as long as someone cares.”
Reposted by John Willingham
My novel manuscript and my scrap file are briefly exactly the same page count, which means I'm currently writing two words for every one that stays in.
August 27, 2025 at 12:38 AM
My novel manuscript and my scrap file are briefly exactly the same page count, which means I'm currently writing two words for every one that stays in.
Reposted by John Willingham
Forgetting — those who have left us, and the parts of ourselves we have left behind — is a kind of death, but we can come back from it through memory and love, which twine the lifeline tethering us to everything that is beautiful and enduring.
www.themarginalian.org/2024/11/21/t...
www.themarginalian.org/2024/11/21/t...
August 26, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Forgetting — those who have left us, and the parts of ourselves we have left behind — is a kind of death, but we can come back from it through memory and love, which twine the lifeline tethering us to everything that is beautiful and enduring.
www.themarginalian.org/2024/11/21/t...
www.themarginalian.org/2024/11/21/t...
Another good review of my new novel, The Last Woman....
bit.ly/4122V0w
bit.ly/4122V0w
Historical Fiction Book Lovers | The Last Woman by John Willingham | Facebook
The Last Woman by John Willingham.
I don’t recall ever reading a book that takes place during the “old west.” It reminded me of Gunsmoke and other cowboy/saloon shows. It was appealing to read...
bit.ly
August 12, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Another good review of my new novel, The Last Woman....
bit.ly/4122V0w
bit.ly/4122V0w
Here are some advance reviews of my novel The Last Woman from Goodreads....
bit.ly/47jMpNi
bit.ly/47jMpNi
August 9, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Here are some advance reviews of my novel The Last Woman from Goodreads....
bit.ly/47jMpNi
bit.ly/47jMpNi
Reposted by John Willingham
If your day could use a burst of delight, listen to David Byrne perform "One Fine Day" with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus: www.themarginalian.org/2020/05/14/o...
One Fine Day: David Byrne Performs His Hymn of Optimism and Countercultural Anthem of Resistance and Resilience with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus
“I complete my tasks, one by one. I remove my masks, when I am done…”
www.themarginalian.org
August 7, 2025 at 5:51 PM
If your day could use a burst of delight, listen to David Byrne perform "One Fine Day" with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus: www.themarginalian.org/2020/05/14/o...
Reposted by John Willingham
“It never really goes away, the longing for the life not lived, because isn’t that part of how we come to know ourselves too? Through what we lack as much as what we have, all we dream but do not hold. Some desires have no resolution”
@madelaine_lucas
@madelaine_lucas
August 3, 2025 at 4:21 PM
“It never really goes away, the longing for the life not lived, because isn’t that part of how we come to know ourselves too? Through what we lack as much as what we have, all we dream but do not hold. Some desires have no resolution”
@madelaine_lucas
@madelaine_lucas
Reposted by John Willingham
The man who had his doctor report that he’s 6’3”, 238 lbs fired the person in charge of reporting labor statistics.
August 3, 2025 at 1:39 PM
The man who had his doctor report that he’s 6’3”, 238 lbs fired the person in charge of reporting labor statistics.
Reposted by John Willingham
We gotta do what we gotta do to fend off authoritarianism 🤷♂️
Texas House Democrats flee the state to block a vote on new congressional map
Texas Republicans proposed a new map that could give the GOP five more seats in Congress after the 2026 midterm election.
www.statesman.com
August 3, 2025 at 9:14 PM
We gotta do what we gotta do to fend off authoritarianism 🤷♂️
Reposted by John Willingham
Monthly reminder: Many people have a book in them, but it takes a special kind of freak to leave the Land of Laziness, cross the Plains of Procrastination and Insecurity Mountain, find the Blade of No One Made You Do This, and use it to cut your chest open and yank that book out.
August 1, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Monthly reminder: Many people have a book in them, but it takes a special kind of freak to leave the Land of Laziness, cross the Plains of Procrastination and Insecurity Mountain, find the Blade of No One Made You Do This, and use it to cut your chest open and yank that book out.
Reposted by John Willingham
Reposted by John Willingham
Reposted by John Willingham
“Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.”—F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up
July 18, 2025 at 5:09 PM
“Show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy.”—F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up
Reposted by John Willingham
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
July 11, 2025 at 5:12 PM
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
Reposted by John Willingham
No doubt about it. It's an excellent stimulus to be more creative and to work towards more clarity.
"One's attitude toward a manuscript changes when one learns it's likely to be published."
—Tony Hillerman on revising the manuscript for his first novel, quoted in "Tony Hillerman: A Life" by James McGrath Morris
—Tony Hillerman on revising the manuscript for his first novel, quoted in "Tony Hillerman: A Life" by James McGrath Morris
June 26, 2025 at 10:54 PM
No doubt about it. It's an excellent stimulus to be more creative and to work towards more clarity.
Reposted by John Willingham
Reposted by John Willingham
So. which Stephen king book are we doing today, folks?
June 25, 2025 at 2:49 PM
So. which Stephen king book are we doing today, folks?