• The Written Word returns

    When Yahoo Groups shut down last month, I lost access to The Written Word, a mailing list I’d run for nearly 17 years. The contact information for hundreds of subscribers also disappeared as did my entire archive of past postings.

    The concept for The Written Word was simple: email a daily quotation about writing, editing, journalism, poetry or publishing. It was basically the online version of a page-a-day calendar.

    On weekends and vacations, I would prep future emails by scouring magazines and reading writing-related websites. I’d buy quotation collections secondhand and fill ’em with sticky notes, marking the pages that offered advice I wanted to share. Whenever I scrolled through social media, I’d save any interesting commentary from experts in the publishing business.

    While my goal was to provide a bit of inspiration to aspiring and professional writers, I would be remiss if I didn’t admit that the quotations I shared sometimes helped me too.

    As 2020 ended, I considered putting this project behind me. It was only after reading the many old emails I’d saved thanking me for sending the quotes that I decided to continue The Written Word. I may not be able to go out into the world and volunteer in person right now, but I can help others in this small way.

    So, I’ve relaunched The Written Word on Tiny Letter. To subscribe, click here. And if you enjoy what you read, share it with others and encourage them to subscribe as well.

  • Writing - balled up paper

    Quote of the day

    “Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up Exercise the writing muscle every day.” –Jane Yolen

  • dream doorway

    “The doorway of a poem, it’s the sound it makes!”

    Donald Hall, former poet laureate of the United States and the state of New Hampshire, no longer writes poetry. At 88, he believes writing poetry is a “a young man’s game” which takes “too much testosterone.”

    This is completely understandable when you discover how Hall wrote. On average, he would pen 80 to 100 drafts of each poem. For the poem, “Another Elegy,” he revised it 400 times. Now imagine how many words he’s written for the 50 books of poetry, essays and plays he’s published.

    That’s dedication.

    To learn about Hall’s writing method, click here to listen to an interview with NHPR’s “10 Minute Writer’s Workshop.”

    –Photo by Palto

  • Cemetery seraphim

    In Memoriam: A Look Back At The People We Lost in 2014

    hourglass.jpgSome people view obituaries as morbid stories, but in truth only one line of an obit deals with death. The rest of the story focuses on the amazing lives people lead. In 2014, these 15 obituaries were the people/stories that most resonated with me:

    * Robin Williams, comedian and actor
    * Josefa A. Platzer, restauranteur
    * Archibald Andrews, comic book hero
    * Philip Seymour Hoffman, actor
    * Ben Bradlee, editor
    * Jay Lake, author
    * Margot Adler, author
    * John Pinette, comedian
    * Frank Mankiewicz, former president of NPR
    * Hal Douglas, voiceover actor
    * Eli Wallach, actor
    * Mickey Rooney, actor
    * R.A. Montgomery, author
    * John Tull, survivor of the plague
    * Timothy Dowd, police detective

    Other wonderful obituaries that shouldn’t be missed (and people who shouldn’t be forgotten):

    * H.R. Giger, artist
    * Arthur Gelb, journalist
    * Edwin Kagin, atheist attorney
    * Milton William Jones, one of the last Pullman porters
    * Larry Agenbroad, paleontologist
    * Jean Beliveau, hockey Hall of Famer
    * Mike Nichols, director
    * Betty Jo Simpson, Internet sensation
    * Ralph White, actor
    * Don Pardo, broadcaster
    * Maya Angelou, poet
    * Ruby Dee, civil rights activist and actress
    * Shirley Temple Black, actress and ambassador
    * Harold Ramis, director
    * Joan Rivers, comedian
    * Casey Kasem, DJ
    * Lauren Bacall, actress
    * Pete Seeger, folk singer
    * Gabriel García Márquez, author
    * Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier, ruler of Haiti
    * Ariel Sharon, former Israeli Prime Minister
    * Marion Berry, former DC mayor
    * Oscar de la Renta, fashion designer
    * Sir Richard Attenborough, director
    * Sid Caesar, comedian
    * James Garner, actor
    * Elaine Stritch, actress
    * Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, boxer
    * Joe Cocker, singer
    * Ann B. Davis, actress

  • raven and books stamp

    10 books that stayed with me

    My friend Dawn Staszak, author of “A Guru in the Office” and “A Guru in the Nursery,” recently challenged me to create a list of the 10 books that have stayed with me over the years. Here’s what I came up with on the fly:

    1. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
    2. Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman
    3. Pet Sematary by Stephen King
    4. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
    5. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
    6. A Is For Alibi by Sue Grafton
    7. Love Ain’t Nothing But Sex Misspelled by Harlan Ellison
    8. The Corpse Had A Familiar Face by Edna Buchanan
    9. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
    10. A Drink Before The War by Dennis Lehane

    What’s on your list?