Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Blackcat30's Writing Exercise
Here's my response to the June 27th exercise. It was fun to do. Picture yourself in the middle of a meadow. Now... Describe the weather. It’s bright and sunny with a breeze that ruffles my hair. The temp is in the low to mid-70s so that standing in the sun feels good, not too hot. In the distance,...
Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
U.S. Grant, Author
After serving as president, Ulysses S. Grant and his wife took a world tour, then he joined his son in an investment banking scheme. When one of the partners was found to have been embezzling money, Grant, who thought he was a millionaire, found he was several million dollars in debt. After being...
Sign in to see full entry.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Comments and Achievements
In 1977, Thomas McMahon and a colleague designed a "tuned" running track at Harvard University that improved running times by three percent while cutting injuries in half. In 1996, McMahon gained notice for experiments demonstrating how the basilisk lizard, known in South America as the "Jesus...
Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Advice to Writers From Long Ago
I thought the words of Emperor Marcus Aurelius might be helpful to writers of all genr é s and types. He wrote: "If you work at that which is before you, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract you, but keeping your divine part pure, as if you...
Sign in to see full entry.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
He Said, She Said
Charlie Chaplin saw his "little tramp" character as a bum who dreams he is a gentleman. He said, "That is why, no matter how desperate the predicament is, I am always very much in earnest about clutching my cane, straightening my derby hat and fixing my tie, even though I have just landed on my...
Sign in to see full entry.
Friday, April 15, 2005
What They Said!
Will Rogers said, "The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf." Henry James wrote, "I'm that queer monster the artist, an obstinate finality, an inexhaustible sensibility" and "Without [literature], for me, the world would be, indeed, a howling desert." Leonardo da...
Sign in to see full entry.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
How They Did It!
Beverly Cleary. While working as a children's librarian in a small town in Washington State, she noticed many of the children complained that they couldn't find books about children like themselves. She eventually decided to write the kind of books those kids were looking for, books about ordinary...
Sign in to see full entry.
Monday, April 11, 2005
They Said It!
Here are some writing-related quotes from people highlighted in today’s Witchflower Days blog. David Halberstam: "I like living in New York City. It's my city, and it's home to other writers. Writing is extremely lonely work, and the opportunity to go for a walk with a friend or have dinner with a...
Sign in to see full entry.
Wednesday, April 6, 2005
Poet Mini-Profile: Francesco Petrarch: Was She or Wasn't She?
Was Laura a real woman, or was she not? Decide for yourself. Although I am not familiar with the sonnets and works of Petrarch, the story about him and his Laura intrigues me, so I offer a brief version of it here. Francesco Petrarch was born just outside of Florence on July 20, 1304. His family...
Sign in to see full entry.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Author Mini-Profile: Nathaniel Hawthorne - Part II
Here is the second part of the Nathaniel Hawthorne post. History Helps Hawthorne was fascinated by America's Puritan history, especially since one of his own ancestors had been a judge in the Salem witch trials. Ten years before starting The Scarlet Letter, he read an historical account of a woman...
Sign in to see full entry.
