Skip to content

grin and bare it

A blog by Matthew Dicks

Perfection

By Matthew Dicks | December 14, 2009

Last week, we experienced our first significant snow of the year, covering the ground in about four inches of the white stuff. After spending the entire fall season ignoring the plentitude of leaves on the…

Read More

Leadership begins with the Lord. And castration.

By Matthew Dicks | December 14, 2009

Article 6, section 8 of the North Carolina state constitution states: “The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.” This law, deemed unconstitutional by…

Read More

The kindness of strangers

By Matthew Dicks | December 13, 2009

It’s always nice to discover someone saying something nice about your book, especially when it’s a bookseller. From Shannon McKenna Schmidt on Shelf Awareness: “At Saturday’s event, Joe Drabyak will be recommending books from various…

Read More

Pen names

By Matthew Dicks | December 12, 2009

Nathan Bransford recently posted about pen names, recommending that unless the reasons are compelling, there is no reason to use a pseudonym. While I tend to agree, I can’t help but think that Mark Twain…

Read More

People-pleasers

By Matthew Dicks | December 11, 2009

As I was getting dressed this morning, I turned on the television. The channel was tuned to HBO, airing a movie I later identified as Bride Wars. Based on the scene I watched, I will…

Read More

Like one great big pinball machine

By Matthew Dicks | December 11, 2009

I liked this advice a lot (via Jason Kottke): Career advice from Charlie Hoehn: “Therein lies the best career advice I could possibly dispense: Just DO things. Chase after the things that interest you and…

Read More

Saving the best

By Matthew Dicks | December 10, 2009

My wife and I own a TiVo. There are two television shows that we do not delete in the event that we want to watch them again and again (which we have been known to…

Read More

How Many of Me?

By Matthew Dicks | December 9, 2009

HowManyOfMe.com will tell you how many people in the United States share your name. It will also tell you the name of the most famous person with your last name. In my case, there are…

Read More

Milo in Germany

By Matthew Dicks | December 9, 2009

In keeping with the tradition of selling foreign rights only to former enemies of the United States, the first foreign rights for Unexpectedly, Milo sold last week to German publisher Blanvalet. This is the same…

Read More

White, fluffy drama

By Matthew Dicks | December 8, 2009

From The Weather Channel: “Vicious winter storm blasts the Midwest. Parts of the Midwest are being ravaged by a December blizzard while the Northeast looks at a wintry mess.” Vicious? Blasts? Ravaged? I know it’s…

Read More

Subscribe ToThe Grin & Bare It Newsletter

Sign up to conveniently receive my daily blog post from "Grin & bare It" into your inbox daily.

You have Successfully Subscribed!