“I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” — Bilbo Baggins, […]
Richard Straws
Shattered and Quarantined
I’ve long admired those who create novel musical compositions or take a canvas and paint beautiful works of art. I find such creative gifts mysterious, something beyond my comprehension, as […]
Dashes and hyphens, part II
The en dash Longer than a hyphen, about half the width of an em dash, the en dash (–) was historically related to the width of the lowercase “n” in […]
Dashes and hyphens, part I
“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” Mark Twain, 1888 letter to George Bainton Twain’s […]
U.S. Copyright Law, Part II
“Works made for hire.” You dream of being a freelance artist. While at your actual job–a secretary at a paper sales company in Scranton, Pennsylvania—a co-worker notices your artistic talent. […]
U.S. Copyright Law, Part I
The Purloined Idea. You’re sitting down with a close friend for coffee. You often share with him ideas for your novels, and in this case you have a particularly ingenious […]
Wastin’ away again in Margaritaville
Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. John Lennon I haven’t posted on the blog for seven months. It’s not that I’ve been lazy. Not […]
Future Jau, Part 9
It was on the seventh day that the news broke. Alan picked it up from the satellite feed, which he accessed on his phone only once a day, out of […]
Future Jau, Part 7
Alan crouched, hidden in dense brush and peering at the back of the house. Rather than drive right to the property, he’d parked on a half-overgrown road on the edge […]