A recent essay by Christopher Beha in Harper’s compares the literary criticism of Lionel Trilling (1905-75), who reigned in the mid-twentieth century, with that of contemporary critic, James Wood. (1965 -) Trilling judges a work based upon its the effect on the reader. Wood, h
A couple of weeks ago, a reader sent me am article from the Wall Street Journal about a first novel that became an overnight success, (“Preparation for the Next Life,” by Atticus Lish. (Click here) The story is one that would make any struggling writer salivate. Tyrant, a sm
Well yes, (yawn) Downton Abbey has returned for a new season on public television. I quit watching after year 3 when the heir to the estate died in a car accident. Frankly, I was never fond of any character, except Maggie Smith’s. The rest are too bland or too precious to hold
The actors are in place, the stage is set and the curtain on my play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast is about to open. Whether it will be treated kindly by the public or die in its first performance is something I am unable to predict. But whether I succeed or fail, I will have achiev
Not long after I moved into my retirement center, a resident who’d learned I write novels, suggested I contribute a few to the in-house library. I declined, explaining that most of my sales were e-sales and that I made pennies per book. I couldn’t afford to give paperbacks a
With the holiday season come and gone, it’s nice to know the period was marked by a little peace on earth. Hachette, 4th largest publishing house in the United States, and Amazon settled their long standing dispute over the selling price for eBooks. (Blog 9/25/14) The question i
During the interval between casting “Woman on the Scarlet Beast” and rehearsals, I moved to a retirement center. Much of the time, I spent unpacking boxes and attempting to restore normalcy to a life I had deliberately uprooted. Among my goals was to revive friendships that had
The second round of auditions for my play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, came two weeks after the first. Though the director, Cassandra Schwanke, thought we had found our leading lady in the earlier audition, I wasn’t so sure. The woman she favored was too young. Somewhere, th
The night for the first play auditions finally arrived. For me, it had already been a long day. I dreaded going out again. Worse, the taxi I’d ordered failed to appear. I don’t like to drive at night but, having no alternative, I ploughed through a driving rain to reach th
A blog reader sent me a news clipping from the October 14, 2014 edition of the Wall Street Journal. The article reviews two books where the authors take differing positions on the importance of grammar and style. (“Book Review: ‘Gwynne’s Grammar’ N.M. Gwynne & ‘The Sen