Monthly Archives: December 2013

See you in 2014!!!

Posted on December 22, 2013 by [email protected]

I’m taking a break until the New Year. I won’t be back till mid January. There are three reasons: one, it’s Christmas, and I am outta here. (Besides, bourbon and blogs don’t mix.) Two, on January 9 I’m moving continents … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

ARE YOU IN DANGER OF HAVING AN ARACHNOLEPTIC FIT?

Posted on December 17, 2013 by [email protected]

I’m writing a series about Shakespeare right now. Did you know that he introduced something like several thousand words into the English language that had never been used before? The one constant of all languages is change; neologisms appear all … Continue reading →

Posted in HUMOR | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

THE REAL CLEOPATRA. 23 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

Posted on December 13, 2013 by [email protected]

When I first wrote about Cleopatra I was considering making her blonde. Many historians had suggested she was fair. Her Macedonian heritage made it entirely possible. But you can’t! my editor told me, when I first suggested it. Everyone knows … Continue reading →

Posted in HISTORY | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

18 gems about writing from 16¼ great authors

Posted on December 11, 2013 by [email protected]

1. If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor. - Edgar Rice Burroughs 2. I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil. - … Continue reading →

Posted in WRITING | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

So yew want to bee a riter?

Posted on December 9, 2013 by [email protected]

Last week we took a look at some of the entrants in the Bulwer Lytton contest. They were all, you’ll agree, very good at being very bad. But they were trying to be awful. What about the writers who weren’t? … Continue reading →

Posted in WRITING | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

HOW NELSON MANDELA’S LIFE CAN CHANGE YOURS

Posted on December 6, 2013 by [email protected]

Nelson Mandela was not a saint, by his own admission. His first wife divorced him because of his adulteries. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 but in the early sixties he advocated violent struggle. And although he publicly … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

ARE THESE THE WORST 12 OPENING LINES EVER?

Posted on December 4, 2013 by [email protected]

1. “She strutted into my office wearing a dress that clung to her like Saran Wrap to a sloppily butchered pork knuckle, bone and sinew jutting and lurching asymmetrically beneath its folds, the tightness exaggerating the granularity of the suet … Continue reading →

Posted in WRITING | Tagged , , | 13 Comments