I joined a social media group for writers a while ago and was welcomed by a member who introduced himself as Dave. He invited me to take advantage of his media outreach service, emphasizing it was free. Knowing that many such services charge from hundreds to thousands of dollars, I wa
During a recent radio show on which I appeared, the interviewer asked if I thought a person could be a writer if he or she wasn’t a reader. I didn’t have to think. I immediately said “no.” Afterwards, I wondered why I’d been so definite. Theoretically, it is possible for som
A friend sent me a list of English words the are spelled the same but have different meanings. They are examples of usage that often trip up foreigners. Here are three examples: I did not object to the object. The insurance was invalid for the invalid They were too close to the door
Margaret Atwood, 73, is writing a novel, Positron, online, making the story up before everyone’s eyes and asking for feedback. When she gets it, she tilts the story according to the responses. She says it’s a little like improvisation in print. People will write and say, ‘We lov
Browsing though the March edition of Vanity Fair, I came across an interview with Stanley Donen, a man in his late 80s who began a brilliant film career young in his life and by the time he was 25, he was directing film luminaries like Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn. Aske
A recent article by Lauren LaCompra, writing for Reuters, noted that some of Wall Street and banking’s most talented players are leaving the world of finance and fleeing to Silicon Valley or hedge and private equity funds. The reason given is not solely because of the scandals and b
“Figures lie and liars figure.” That was a favorite aphorism of the man who preceded me as a county commissioner. He used the saying to mock any statistic that displeased him and used it so often that eventually he discredited himself. Still, I agree that statistics are as pliable
I was recently interviewed at a local radio station for my new book, Trompe l’Oeil. Our conversation went well past the plot and into larger, philosophical questions. One of the questions was about my age. At 76 did death play a large part in my thoughts, the interviewer wondered. T
An acquaintance of mine recently congratulated me on my new book, Trompe l’Oeil, my third in five years and sighed that she wished her current biography, which she’s been working on for five years, didn’t require so much research. Her implication was that a fiction writer can kn
When I was young, I took an interest in people whose lives led them along roads less traveled and yet who were influential. Rasputin was one. He lived in the 19th century as a religious pilgrim and was embraced as a healer by Alexandra, the last Czarina of Russia. Count Calistoga was