I am old enough to remember when sets of twin sheets automatically came with two pillowcases instead of just one. Sometimes, the larger sheet sets – double, queen, king, and California king – came with four pillowcases instead of two. And since every set of sheets was also sold as individuals, you could easily purchase […]
Writing, for most of us, is normally a solitary occupation. We retire into our garret – or basement office under the stairs – and block out the world to produce words and worlds. Writing involves many skills and talents: one of them that doesn’t usually show up in the mix is salesmanship. I won’t say […]
Why choose a pen name? The reasons are many for selecting a pen name: * Security: You need to hide is at the top of the list. If you needed to disappear because of a vengeful ex-spouse, a pen name is your friend. * Privacy: A pen name lets you write, earn money, and not […]
Hey Bill, what do you think of that new Agatha Christie biography reviewed in The Wall Street Journal? Without having read it, I can tell you that it’s a good family-authorized book with all the pluses and minuses that it implies. That’s because “Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life,” was published in 2006 as “Agatha Christie: […]
You should seriously consider whether or not you need a pseudonym. There are reasons for choosing one. First, how common is your name? If your name is “Mary Brown,” no search engine will ever find you until you have built a reputation. Type in “Michael Jackson” and an overwhelming majority of the results will be […]
Update: Last week, I talked about how I entered a contest in 2001 to write the conclusion to an unpublished Mark Twain novella “A Murder, A Mystery, and a Marriage.” The Buffalo public library, which ran the contest to bring publicity to the fact that it acquired the entirety of the manuscript to “Huckleberry Finn,” […]
It’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time for Sherlock parodies day! Today, despite popular demand, I’m returning to the Washington Times for another adventure about the great detective, Mortimer Mudge. (The last one was “Mortimer Mudge and the Fur Watch-Chain.“). This piece of macabre silly logic by the anonymous “Rhoda Montade” appeared in the Aug. […]
Writing, for most of us, is normally a solitary occupation. We retire into our garret – or basement office under the stairs – and block out the world to produce words and worlds. Writing involves many skills and talents: one of them that doesn’t usually show up in the mix is salesmanship. I won’t say […]
It’s been awhile since I updated you on the TwainLock project. Actually, except for a page on the Peschel Press website, I don’t think I’ve said anything about it. That’s what happens when you’re not doing that well at sharing. TwainLock: In the Beginning … It started with a contest. I had just started working […]
Today’s Sherlock Holmes’ parody was the product of the “Mad” magazine of the Victorian era. “Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday” was a weekly comic magazine that is considered to be the first to feature a recurring character. A “sloper” in slang is someone who slopes around evading creditors and other people they wish to avoid. A […]