Author name: Booksquare

Though it will not come as a surprise to anyone here, it seems that living with a writer is not easy. Honestly, sometimes the husband wants to talk when it’s quite clear we’re thinking. Oh sure, it looks like napping, but as long as one brain cell is pulsing, we will deny the charge. We will say, however, that every review we read about Living With a Writer gives us pause. First off, we know a lot of writers and very few are able to indulge their inner helpless child. Maybe it’s because so many of the writers we know […]

Now, don’t get us wrong, we like having far too much information. If we’re overwhwelmed by a subject, we’re happy (generally, because this means we’re so busy “researching” that we’re not “working”). But, let’s be honest — it’s hard enough getting people to put alt attributes on images. How can anyone expect articles filled with context-driven messages? And what happens when someone goes overboard and every conjunction has a context menu? Yes, the web can be used to provide endless avenues of discovery, but, maybe it’s the print reader in us or our natural crankiness, but there’s a point where

Let us be upfront about this: we are perfectly willing to accept a genius grant. Just recently, the husband realized the truth about us — we were born to be showered in gifts. We will not say how many years it’s taken him to come to this conclusion. Suffice to say, more than a few. So if the MacArthur people want to help us fulfill our destiny, we are available. That being said, we realize our particular genius cannot be cajoled by mere money (oh, don’t get us wrong…we are mercenary to the soles of our little feet). We were

It is a rare human who finds their calling at a young age. Usually the ones who do are seduced by the freedom that comes from driving a garbage or fire truck. Generally, this urge is outgrown about the time said person discovers girls (or boys). Some, however, never waver from their vision of the future. We salute that steadfast nature. Also, we worry. With clear eyes and an unquenchable thirst for syntactical truth, I will distinguish between defining and non-defining relative clauses and use “that” and “which” appropriately. I will locate and remove the hyphen from any mention of

Those of you who know about our little issue with the serial comma (or as we like to call it Our Favorite Thing in The World), avert your eyes. We are going to say something shocking. Of course, if you’re reading this, you have a synopsis to finish. It is past 5 p.m., and we haven’t seen it come our way. Self-sabotage is all very good, but we said we wouldn’t leave our computer until we heard from you. Grammar and structure are really important. Really, really important. They make reading easy and fun. Perhaps we would we have screamed

We were never much for Ernest Hemingway in our misbegotten youth — too much guy writing for our taste. Always, we gravitated toward F. Scott Fitzgerald. But tastes change (hence spinach enjoying a regular role at meals), and we’ve developed more of an appreciation for Hemingway. What we once disdained as overly simple, we now see as jaw-droppingly complex. It’s actually quite inspiring. And it’s quite obvious that we aren’t alone in our need to develop the Hemingway taste — even the Nobel people needed some time… Report: Old Man of Sea Hooked Nobel for Hemingway