Vacation can be such a trip.
Take our recent vacation. We went “up north,” as we call it in Wisconsin. The Northwoods is gorgeous, full of lakes, rivers, woods and places to recreate, ranging from tourist traps to truly remote areas. Our up north experience has included, since my oldest was just a year old, visiting [...]
Family vacations bring back a lot of memories. My parents took my brother and I lots of places when we were growing up. It was no mean feat: my dad was a machinist in the auto industry, and at that time, mom was a homemaker. The vacation budget was small, and they stretched it mightily [...]
My son’s team played its last game of the season last night. It was perfect weather: mid-seventies, breezy enough that the mosquitoes didn’t plague us. There were enough puffy clouds at the horizon to enhance the sunset. And the boys won, securing first place in their division.
A spirit of good humor hung over the ball [...]
As I mentioned in my last post, I recently read The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. But I’ve been reading lots of other things, too. So here’s the list, with a brief comment on each:
Romeo & Juliet
I’ve been wanting to read some Shakespeare, and purchased some individual plays so my Riverside Shakespeare wouldn’t sit on my [...]
The Daily Beast’s Book Beast has an interesting article on authors who are reaching out to book clubs as a way to connect with readers and promote their books. In an era of dwindling publicity budgets, it’s a way to boost sales, and a fascinating opportunity to see their books from an audience perspective.
Salon.com has [...]
Happy July 4th, everyone. Enjoy the fireworks, picnic, boating, etc. And while you’re at it, express an opinion, read a newspaper, hug a librarian. In other words, savor some of the freedoms this day commemorates.
In the above video (released by HarperCollins and found on The Daily Beast’s Book Beast section), successful mystery writers Linda Fairstein and Jane Stanton Hitchcock discuss, among other things, whether they know the ending of their story–whodunnit–when they begin.
Guess what? One does and one doesn’t.
So it goes with writing advice. What works for one writer [...]