“A SELF-DEFROCKED HOLYMAN WANDERS A fantastic landscape, eking out a meager but honest living as a mercenary cook.” (Intrigued?)
Tag: writers
A breed apart from ordinary humans, and responsible for much of their culture. Some would call them the salvation of humanity; others wouldn’t call them a cab.
Words To Bring Back:: “Unctuous”
– Definition: adj. (of a person) excessively or ingratiatingly flattering; oily. – Used in a sentence: The current president* (at this writing, anyway: 3/26/20) enjoys and prefers the company of unctuous sycophants. – Why: It’s nice to have words to…
Don’t let the plot get in the way of the story.”
— Anon.
20 Observations on Newspaper Reporting
ALTHOUGH THEY RELY ON THEM, few people say they actually trust the news media. (I call it “Ross’ Paradox.”) Everybody has a story. And many want to share it. Newswriting is a form of reality-creation, wherein readers trust you to…
Words To Bring Back: “Cryptic”
– Definition: adj. Having a meaning that is mysterious or obscure – Used in a sentence: The president’s* speeches are somewhat cryptic to those who don’t share his gestalt, and altogether not for those who do. – Why: What with…
“…And Just Exactly What Is A ‘Buopoth?'”
“MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT the quaint and lumbering buopoths native to the Exilic Lands and other curious places – but to this day, little remains understood about the shy beasts beyond the proverb that ‘they will haul all day…
First Graf: The Dharma Bums
IN MANY WAYS, THIS 1958 book is better than the earlier On the Road. Kerouac’s signature stream-of-consciousness narrative style is more flowy, and the novel’s lionized centerperson (poet Gary Snyder, or “Japhy Ryder” as tDB calls him) a more noble…
Welcome to My World … Literally and Literarily
O Fellow Connoisseurs of Mythic Fiction (and Gastronomy), please: Lend me your eyes. For many years now, I have been writing occasional fantasy tales about Prosatio Silban: a self-defrocked holyman turned mercenary cook in a far-off land containing a vast…
Words to Bring Back: “Lacustrine”
– Definition: adj.; geological Of or pertaining to lakes. – Used in a sentence: I prefer deep-water sailing to the lacustrine variety. – Why: For one thing, it feels good in the mouth. However, I must admit to some self-service…
5 Thoughts: The Third Thing
1. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT frustrates me as a writer is my own self-limitation. Specifically, I am speaking of the notoriously difficult and bothersome Third Thing. 2. The Third Thing works like this. I will write a sentence that…
First Graf (well, page): Harold and the Purple Crayon
THE FIRST BOOK I EVER read from cover to cover was Crockett Johnson’s 1955 work, Harold and the Purple Crayon. If you’re not familiar with it, it goes like this: A small boy in one-piece pajamas draws with, well, purple…
Words to Bring Back: “Pernicious”
– Definition: adj. Having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle way. – Used in a sentence: Pernicious “tweets” should not become a presidential* standard. – Why: It’s enough out of current usage to possibly sound like a…