Square Pegs

We have a personal policy: we’ll believe what you want us to believe. This does not always mean we don’t see through lies, but if it’s important to you, who are we to deny your wish? We’re also not opposed to hoaxes — generally the smallest amount of diligence will reveal the truth. What we have learned in our life is that most people don’t take that extra step. If you put it in writing, they will believe it. This is the reason the husband enjoyed a small amount of notoriety in his wild youth. It was with this attitude […]

Censorship, which we assumed went out with the 90’s, has returned with a vengeance. Not only did the week have Linda Ronstadt getting thrown out of a Vegas casino for, ahem, expressing her political views, but Whoopi Goldberg lost her Slim-Fast gig for the same reason. We’re thinking this is a disturbing trend. Not to mention (as we always do when this sort of thing arises) the resulting publicity from the reaction gives new life to a moment that would normally die, forgotten and lonely in a backroad motel room. Even library books, which enjoyed a brief respite from burnings

We suspect it’s the fear of every memoirist — just after the story ends, things in real life get all interesting. Such seems to be the problem for Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran. Iranians who have read the book say it’s good, but not reflective of life as it is now. Yeah…well, if you keep spinning out the end to capture the world as it changes, you’ll never finish the darned book. In fact, there’s an excellent chance you’ll die first. Such things have been known to happen. We appreciate the press looking for a new angle

David Thayer of Collected Miscellany discusses the writer at work — the solace he receives from knowing a major player works near his clothes closet, the frustration of word count (What? You only managed 497.5 words today? Slacker!), and fact that writing can never be truly represented on film. Though we do frequently crumple our rejected pages into paper balls — they make excellent cat toys. Someday, we’re going to real cleaning (as opposed to the pretend thing we currently practice) and dig all the abandoned balls from under the various pieces of furniture. The felines will think it’s Christmas

We are intrigued by the idea that Ms. Magazine is holding its first annual fiction contest. Other than the desire for fresh, original voices, the contest is pretty open (oops, there’s also a word count requirement). Postmark deadline for entries is August 1, 2004. Visit the Ms. site for details. Ms. Fiction Contest

As it turns out, our mental image of Geoffrey Chaucer was largely formed by Paul Bettany in A Knight’s Tale. Yeah, we’re the type who is perfectly comfortable picturing Chaucer naked. But, as they say, behind every good man is his scribe. Now we’re not sure Adam Pinkhurst would have ever considered himself anonymous — how was he to know The Canterbury Tales would survive through the ages — but now he’s been revealed as the scrivener of Chaucer (though, perhaps, not a perfect scribe, but who is, really?). Scribe Who Immortalized ‘Canterbury Tales’ Unmasked

If you’ve been on the Internet for any length of time (and you’re a writer), you notice certain trends. Newbies who encounter the wealth of jokes they’ve never read before, and their joy at sharing these gems with everyone they know. Innocents who become paralyzed by manuscript formatting to the point they can’t sleep or eat (our advice: stop worrying — formatting is the least of your problems). Trusting souls who in turn share their lack of judgment in the form of viruses sent to their entire acquaintance. Oh, and scams. We could write volumes on Internet scams and the

Of course you should serve wine with a poetry reading. We naturally expect to be offered vino the moment we walk through the door. So what makes Felix Dennis’s promise of wine so different? The good stuff. He swears he’ll be serving decent wine to go with his poetic offerings. Dennis, owner of Maxim and Stuff (oddly enough, two mags that don’t grace our household), will also tour with a private jet and roadies. We suspect some stops will also have an opening band, but make no promises. Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown (first item) Did I Mention The Free Wine? (Felix

If you were to say to us “there are too many books in bookstores”, we would laugh. Probably politely, but we would laugh. We’d cover our mouth with our hand (that’s the polite part) and snigger away. We’d also think something along the lines of, “Is she crazy? Of course there aren’t too many books. It’s really more a matter that there’s not enough time.” But we are not casual readers. We follow reviews. We spend hours in bookstores and online. We could probably build a new kind of eco-friendly house from the sheer number of volumes we have piled