Category: Writing
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Walden in Africa & Other Diplomatic Readings
Among the 53 titles compiled in this Month’s Foreign Service Journal is Dan Whitman’s Answer Coming Soon. Whatever else it provides to those who read it, Answer undeniably will provide this: a reflection on the power of books. The power is especially profound for those who spend their lives in places where electricity can be spotty…
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The Polyglot Archipelago
Seven islands form the area now called Mumbai (Bombay until 1995). Marathi, Hindi, and English are just a few of the languages spoken there, including Bambaiva, a blend of Gujarati, Konkani, Urdu, Indian English, and more. Its home to 18.5 million, India’s most populous city. Rudyard Kipling, Salman Rushdie, and Fareed Zakaria all were born…
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Gutman!
My sons are psyched Dan Gutman’s coming to town! So am I. They used Barnes & Noble gift cards to pick up something for him to sign. The youngest snagged My Weird School Fast Facts: Space, Humans, and Farts. I can’t wait to read it with him! The oldest went for Flashback Four #2: The…
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The Mars Boycott
Halloween is here and I’m taking a stand. I will eat nothing wrapped in orange, brown, yellow, or gold. I declare Mars and the rest of Candy Corp America persona non grata in my home! Here’s why: The average child eats about 3 cups of sugar and 7,000 calories on Halloween. They’d have to walk approximately…
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Prophetic—
Patchworks is sadly a timely tale of national character and individual insight, juxtaposing individual lives and Second Amendment rights. One reads this engaging, often amusing, and ultimately disturbing account in light of an advancing history of public massacres involving firearms. WorldView Magazine’s Peter Van Deekle reviews Patchworks at Peace Corps Worldwide. Excerpts: B.A. East brings…
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The Old Man. The Sea.
Last spring we visited Key West. Of course we toured the Hemingway home. That was Vikram’s 9th birthday week. Being a natural reader, he couldn’t leave the premises without a book. What to buy? The novels and stories that introduced me to Hemingway — A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises, the Nick Adams…
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Remarks at Indie Author Day
My new novel is the quintessential Washington, DC book. At the climax to Patchworks, hundreds of federal workers stream from their offices, urged on by the sound of a screaming alarm. They gather on a grassy knoll near the National Mall, some of them leaning on one another, some of them sobbing, others in stony,…
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Guns Don’t Kill People…
The comments section of any article about sensible gun regulation reveals the infant-like imaginary world of the pro-gun argument. The most common, perhaps, is that ‘Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.’ But when was the last time you saw a murderer swing a People against a group of people, killing them? Should we also…
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Vienna, but not Austria
Join me and these local independent authors for a conversation about writing and publishing. Kimberly G. Hargan–The Dauphin’s Lost Jewels (Sci-fi) Lisa G. Eley–Thirteen Geese in Flight (Biography) Candace Meredith–Contemplation: Imagery, Sound, and Form (Poetry) Kacy Cooney–In a Maze of Imagination (General Fiction) Kamakshi P. Murti–Lalli’s Window (Children’s Fiction) Jonathan Zeitlin–Death & Repair (Mystery) And…
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Writers Write (and it’s hard)
Great stuff! In a few simple lines our craft is cast in opposing opposing lights: it is spiritual grandness and workaday labor. We are at once inspired and guided by “the invisible hand of the soul.” Yet who can deny that “Writing a novel is drudgery”? Yes & yes. More inspiration below. Dear Sugars, My…
