Blog Entries

Sorry, just not a good fit.

No writer likes rejection. That’s because no human being likes rejection. But writers are often more eloquent in their anger and despair over rejection, because they’re writers and have some time on their hands as a result of being rejected so often. I’ve learned that kind of rejection you want is the terse, breezy and obviously canned form letter. This means they just don’t want you. I’ve had rejection letters that actually go to some trouble to express their bitter disappointment over the quality of my submission. This takes some doing. More >>

From Paw to Page

After twenty plus years of frustrated efforts to publish a novel, I scaled back my ambitions to conform to the somewhat circumscribed audience still available to me: Me. More >>

Eat, Drink, Be Merry and Ponder Universal Truth

I recently read a book by Dr. William Irvine called “On Desire: Why We Want What We Want.” I was engaged by the front half of the book, in particular the sections dealing with brain function and evolutionary biology. Overall. I did have some trouble with the tidy separation of emotion and intellect. I think the line is a lot blurrier than he suggests, though his underlying thesis is useful in explaining how the brain operates as much as an aggregation of specialized functions as a unified system.More >>

For Whom the Bottle Tolls

I got into a bunch of trouble once by noting that many successful 20th century writers were alcoholics. I’m not an expert on this subject by any means. And this concept certainly didn’t originate with me. I’d merely observed what others have observed over a lifetime of reading good writers (and mediocre writers) and many of their biographies. I don’t know if there are enough academic studies to verify the link between writers and excessive drinking, but I once read a book by a professor who took a whack at the subject. His name was Goodwin, and here’s a quote from a review of his book:More >>

In Defense of Free Markets

Winston Churchill, a favorite of mine, said, “… democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.” I contend the same about free-market capitalism. More >>