Ernest Hemingway had a lot of good advice for fiction writers. To begin writing he said, “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” And he demonstrated this with the first sentence of his novel A Farewell to Arms: “In the late summer of that year we lived in a house in a village ( more… )

Without intending to do so, My mama has provided an example of accomplshment that anyone could emulate. Bachelors degrees in English and Education and History. Taught for several years, and then got a nursing certification. Then studied to become a Registered Nurse and passed her state board exam at the ( more… )

Let’s not compare the two.  They’re nothing alike.   Yes, I’m still reading American Pastoral. It’s not a quick read. Philip Roth won the Pulitzer Prize for American Pastoral.  His writing is very dense.  Nothing is left out.  He writes about a thing until there is nothing more to say ( more… )

About thirty-five years ago (meaning, about a dozen years after everyone else) I picked up one of James Herriot’s story books– All Creatures Great and Small, I think– to see what all the popularity was about. It was a book of short stories from his life as a vet caring ( more… )

My Mama is 95 years old today. She’s in the hospital. I hope she gets cake.

Today Denise and I will go out to our little house in Eastern Oregon. We have a grandson named Joey with us. I will do some work on the house, and Denise will entertain Joey. Unless he wants to know about the tools I am using, and then I will ( more… )

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

A happy Brit named Alastair Lee has a website devoted to model trains and model railroad layouts. Every day subscribers to his site receive an email with pictures and video sent to him by model railroaders around the world. The miniature scenery, the tiny main streets and train stations, the ( more… )

I am right now three years younger than Robert Duvall was when he made Assassination Tango, one of my favorite movies. And he has appeared in nineteen movies since then. So, health permitting, I have a long career still ahead of me. I continue to accumulate notes for a next ( more… )

If you’ve just remembered something long forgotten, something that’s been on the tip of your tongue or the back of your mind, write it down. Don’t tap the side of your head and say “I’ve got it all right up here.” During the process of revising my story through several ( more… )