Resolution update: September 2009
In January of this year, I established a list of twelve New Year’s resolutions. At the end of each month, I report on my progress to hold myself accountable. 1.…
The invincible Scott, and then everyone else
I was recently criticized for admitting to cataloging the weaknesses of the people I know so that when I am engaged in a verbal confrontation, I have a means of…
No neck
One of my less pleasing attributes is the absence of a neck. My head sits atop my shoulders. I once had a conversation with a coworker that went like this:…
Book of the Month
A friend of mine, a Book of the Month Club member, sent me the pages from last month’s magazine that included Something Missing. I’m in the middle of reading Pride…
Short story conundrum
In college, I wrote many short stories. Most are not well written, but I have a couple that are good and one that I like very much. I’ve been thinking…
Busy!
I’m debating over the multiple careers of protagonist Wyatt Mason in The Chicken Shack. Wyatt, owner of The Chicken Shack, is a part-time English teacher at a local community college,…
Axis of evil in my baby book
I recently spent some time flipping through my baby book. It’s been quite enlightening. The best part about the baby book is that it was written by my mother, who…
Sometimes a book can speak directly to your heart
Stephen King, in On Writing, writes: "If you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second to least of your concerns. The least of all: Polite society…
Cursive writing: Expendable?
I haven’t used cursive in years. Even my signature can hardly be called cursive. It’s more of an indecipherable scrawl. Other than the years I spent instructing my students in…
Great speech. Lousy bedside manner.
The late William Safire drafted a speech for President Nixon to read in case the Apollo 11 Astronauts became stranded on the moon. It’s a great speech. Truly great. But…
