THE LANGUAGE OF RAPE I read in the Yahoo news summaries recently that the U.S. House of Representatives has a bill before it to limit a woman’s right to medical coverage for abortions when she is the victim of rape. The new language proposed is that the victim must been forcibly rap
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS I’ve finished the last of the books I was given by a friend, the syllabus from a recent literature class she audited. The book is “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” by the Japanese author, Haruki Maurakami. I’ve mentioned a couple of books from the
THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN POLLINATION Despite my blog of January 25, I’ve communicated with the author/manager of a well respected blog for writers. She takes submissions from other bloggers and I sent her two even though I was uncertain about the appropriateness of mine. She see
THE EVIL MEN DO ISN’T HALF AS MEMORABLE AS THE GOOD On my way to the park this week, I noticed a number of graffiti artists had scrawled their names on telephone poles along the way. My route isn’t on any main thoroughfare so the poles aren’t plastered six inches deep with poste
THE SHARP EDGE OF DREAMS One of my favorite short stories by Herman Melville is called, “The Piazza.” The plot is about a man who takes up residence in the countryside on an old farm and finding the house has no piazza from which to view his sylvan world, he builds a small
A BLOG ABOUT BLOGS Today, as I celebrate the writing of my 200th blog, I want to begin by tipping my hat to the human race. If there’s a need, someone will satisfy it. If there is no need someone will create one. Yesterday, while I was doing research on my computer, I came across an
STEPHEN KING SHOULD HAVE BEEN A MEDICAL WRITER The number of people who earn their livelihoods as writers is staggering if one considers almost every enterprise needs them. There are pamphlet writers, tech writers, writers of instruction manuals, ad writers, medical writers and so on.
THE WRITER’S HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER I’ve talked about the solitary nature of writing before. One isolates oneself from others in order to create stories one hopes others will read — which means the end game is anything but isolation. I thought about this irony the other da
WHEN WORDS COLLIDE Several years ago, when I lived for a time in England, I read a book called “The Singer Not the Song” written by Audrey Erkin-Lindop. A film was later made of it which seems to be more famous than the book for there is little written about the author or
A NEW BREED OF PARASITE Recently, I attended a speech by former book agent who has dissolved her partnership to begin a business that purports to provide a launch pad for writers who self-publish. Amazon already has a vehicle for this but no matter. Under the new rules, the agent serv