Jerry Price’s daughter, Heather, called recently with news about her dad, my only close friend from the Vietnam War. He had suffered a severe stroke, and then, as the days passed, his condition deteriorated. He died last Monday at a hospice in rural Missouri. Heather asked if I would write a eulogy. I complied, of… Continue Reading
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Jodi Arias, a Memoir
Exclusive excerpt from the Introduction of “Just Jodi,” a memoir to be published in June 2015: There is a law about not profiting from the sales of books in which a criminal describes her crimes. But then this book isn’t my fault. Over the years people have said to me various words — using nouns… Continue Reading
Sweet Clarity: Zinsser on Mitchell and Ruff
The jazz pianist Dwike Mitchell died this week, and I thought of Willie Ruff, his playing partner for almost 60 years, but mostly of William Zinsser, the teacher of all of us in the matter of writing well. Zinsser, of course, gave us On Writing Well, Writing to Learn, and other classics on craft. But… Continue Reading
From Our Amalfi Coast Writers Retreat
Several nights ago, a pleasant panic seemed to break out among our writing students. On previous afternoons, they had explored the town of Praiano. They’d had lunch overlooking the Ligurian Sea. But on this day most of them scurried back from the morning workshop to the Hotel Margherita to change everything. It would be the… Continue Reading
Italy For Writers
Questions for writers: How can you benefit from Amazon? How do you develop arcs for your characters? How do you create irresistible beginnings for novels or memoirs? And how can you resist Neapolitan paccheri con la zuppa di pesce? Well, then… Be a part of the first Praiano Writers Conference with novelist Wally Lamb, poet Suzanne Levine… Continue Reading
A Book Unwritten
There are many books, I’m sure, on your must-read list. Sheldon Ocker’s is not among them, because it doesn’t exist. I’ve said to him, “Sheldon, you’re witty and experienced. And readers would be interested in such a book.” His answer through the years has always been the same: “No.” This is in stark contrast to… Continue Reading
Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare: Elizabethan Juxto
The never ending speculation about who wrote Shakespeare’s plays includes the distinct possibility that it was a man named William Shakespeare. If you accept this as a premise, see if you can find a 2008 Recorded Books release of Bill Bryson reading his biography (of a sort), entitled, Shakespeare: The World as Stage. Unlike most… Continue Reading
Munich Memoir: Jim McKay’s Olympics
When the International Olympic Committee declined to allow a moment of silence during opening ceremonies in London to mark the fortieth anniversary of the violent deaths of eleven Israeli athletes, I dug back into chapter seventeen of My Wide World, the late Jim McKay’s memoir. McKay, the most eloquent sports anchor of his day (or… Continue Reading
Writing Eulogies
One of the most reliable places to discover good writing is at a memorial service. Not in the first minutes of course. The first minutes usually require adequate solemnity and, in many cases, an array of adjectives that can test credulity. But be patient. A son or daughter (or in the present case a brother-in-law)… Continue Reading
Carlos Eire: A Writer’s ‘Insanity’
The backstory of a National Book Award reveals the mindset of the writer, and such a deep sense of purpose that “insanity” became a key to success. When Carlos Eire spent a day recently with students at Fairfield U’s MFA Creative Writing program, he traced his transformation from writer of academic works (he teaches European… Continue Reading