Those who wish to be Must put aside the alienation Get on with the fascination The real relation The underlying theme – Rush from their hit song “Limelight” In case you haven’t noticed there’s a lot of distractions in life. From politics to family to relationships to work …
The wise man is self-sufficient. – Seneca, “Letters from a Stoic” When I was in 10th grade I read for the first time passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s powerful essay “Self-Reliance.” In case you haven’t read it, or would like to read it again, you can find the entire essay …
A person who publishes a book willfully appears before the populace with his pants down. If it is a good book nothing can hurt him. If it is a bad book nothing can help him. – Edna St. Vincent Millay I realized recently that because I’m working on a novel …
I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethro’ Gleams that untravell’d world whose margin fades For ever and forever when I move. Alfred Lord Tennyson, from “Ulysses” In my series on How To Write Everyday, Step 1 is Inspiration. And …
Forgetfulness, dumbness, necessity! In chains of the mind locked up, Like fetters of ice shrinking together, Disorganiz’d, rent from Eternity. William Blake, from “The Book of Urizen” We all set goals and have aspirations. I myself have written numerous posts regarding writing and how to write every …
And they took hold of him, and brought him unto the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is, which is spoken by thee? – Acts 17:19 What is justice? The age-old question which has plagued mankind since the beginnings of civilization itself. In America today we may …
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20 Let’s face it writing can be a lonely venture. I mean you’re stuck all alone with your ideas, your characters, these worlds that live within you, and you’re desperately …
Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? Matthew 6:26 I am fairly new to fiction writing. For years I wrote poetry and studied with …
It was a sunny afternoon in Pittsburgh. I was sitting in my parked car just outside the music building. I was laid back in the driver’s seat, my foot hanging out the window, and looking up at the Cathedral of Learning across the street. I remember the diffused orange glint …
An unintelligible multitude, A million eyes, a million boots in line, Without expression, waiting for a sign. – W.H. Auden from “The Shield of Achilles” When I was in college studying literature I took a course on Shakespeare with Professor David Brumble. He is a brilliant professor who inspired …
