DYLAN THOMAS GOT IT RIGHT Roger Rosenblatt has written two books about the death of his daughter. “Making Toast” came soon after she passed away. The writing was an exercise to expatiate his grief, but it didn’t work. Two years later, he’s written another book on loss,

TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE My blog post for St. Patrick’s Day celebrated the work of a friend who just published “A Celtic Yearbook.” The timing seemed right not only because the author is Irish, but also because she had suffered a couple of daunting surgeries, one after

WE, THE PARTY OF THE FIRST PART… If there is one form of writing that outshines the obscurity of academic writing, it is the legal document. Unfortunately, legal documents are everywhere. One can’t open a page on the Internet without being required to accept one contract or anot

Ever get stragled in legaleses?  Mondays blog might help. 

Ever felt strangled by legalese?  Ready Monday’s blog.

Beginning in mid-May I go on on “virtual” tour with “Gothic Spring” from the comfort of my home! Isn’t technology grand? This online effort is staged by Nurure Virtual Book Tourz. Here’s a link with tour dates:  http://nurtureyourbooks.com/vbtblog/

It’s exciting and a little humbling to know when you connect in a meaningful way. That’s my feeling after learning my blog post from April 4 is featured prominently in the emagazine “Oregon Womens Report.” Here’s the link: The words we use when people pas

WHEN MEMORY FAILS, THE WRITTEN WORD REMEMBERS If the memory of our personal histories fail in the minds of others, sometimes our writings live on — if only at the bottom of an attic trunk.  That’s what Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat, Pray, Love,” discovered when she c

JUST AN ORDINARY DAY Sunday, I decided to take a stroll to one of the local used bookstores in my area.  It’s a 50 minute walk round trip and as the previous few days had brought nothing but rain, this warm, Sunday afternoon came as a relief. The washed blossoms of the plum tree ou

CARPE DIEM (seize the day) My alumni news magazine reported recently that two classmates from my under graduate days had died. They were my age, naturally, so I was brought up short.  75 is a respectable age for dying. Most of life’s experiences have been sampled: a career, marriag