DON’T BE AN APRIL FOOL OR ANY OTHER KIND While my blog site lists reliable resources for beginning writers looking for advice about agents and publishing houses, sometimes these sources dole out some pretty stodgy information. So, given the perversity of my nature, I’m providing i

”FAR AWAY THERE IN THE SUNSHINE ARE MY HIGHEST ASPIRATIONS.”         — Louisa May Alcott Theodore Dreiser wrote his best seller, “An American Tragedy,” in 1925 after flunking out of college, turning to journalism to make a living and finally succeeding as a n

THOUGHTS ON POLISHING THE FURNITURE Uriah Heep in Dickens’ novel, “David Copperfield,” is a much maligned character and deservedly so as he was inclined to crawl like a snake among his betters until he was in a position to strike. Still, beyond unctuous manners, there is

THE NEW ALPHABET SOUP The playwright George Bernard Shaw is credited with the quote, “Youth is wasted on the young.” At 74, not only do I think the saying is witty, I believe it is true. If I could live with the vigor of my youth and still retain the wisdom of my age what a force

“THE LAST REFUGE OF THE INSOMINIAC IS A SENSE OF SUPERIORITY TO THE SLEEPING WORLD” – Leonard Cohen, song writer A friend of mine complained, recently, that as he neared the age of 60 he was suffering more and more from insomnia. His new habit was to wake up at 3 a.m. with slim

THOUGHTS ON WISCONSIN AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING In his book, “Norwegian Wood,” author Haruki Muramkami has his central character, Toru, makes the following observation about his life as a student:                           “By the second week

WHEN FIREFLIES BECOME ONE WITH THE STARS In one of the chapters of Haruki Murakami’s book, “Norwegian Wood,” the central character, Toru, is given a firefly in a jar. Eventually, he decides to release the insect and lifts the lid. The bug senses a change but doesn’t qu

I KNOW I’VE SAID THIS BEFORE BUT TO THOSE WHO WEREN’T LISTENING… I wrote earlier of my love for the works of Anton Chekhov (Blog: 3/2/2011), his plays in particular, where many of his characters are benign but passive to a degree that makes one want to scream, “Do something, a

https://youtube.com/watch?v=-lSLzYKVd2s%3Ffs%3D1%26hl%3Den_US (from “Monty Python’s Flying Circus.” Demonstrates the kind of personality traits needed to propel a book from keyboard to reader.) (Source: http://www.youtube.com/)

THE ECCLESIASTES OF FREEDOM I confess it; I have taken sides with the rebels in Libya as most westerners would. I have no idea what ideology will prevail if they succeed as I understand there are a number of competing tribes in their culture. But I cannot remain indifferent when I see