“All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know,” Ernest Hemingway wrote. He was right, of course. It’s the mark of every good writer. Take John D. MacDonald, the great fiction writer whose detective hero, Travis McGee, lived on a houseboat in Fort Lauderdale. “There are no…
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Write or bust
My cousin just emailed me a photo that she described in the subject line as “sad.” Devastating would be a better word. My grandparents’ beautiful old house, which had survived generations of winter storms roaring across the Illinois plains, kids running up and down stairs, and farmers shaking off dust and slamming screen…
When fantasy becomes reality
Quoth the Halloween retailer, “Ever more.” That’s what the experts are predicting for 2021, at least, with record sales expected to hit $10.14 billion, up from last year’s $8.05 billion when people were spooked by the pandemic. This, according to a USA Today story, quoting the National Retail Federation, which is counting on sales…
good old days
Journalism. Maybe it was always complicated. Maybe readers were always confused about where you’re coming from, were skeptical, or just outright hostile. But today? Reporters and editors are hanging on by their fingertips over a widening chasm. I find myself longing for the “good old days” of Walter Cronkite, who signed off every CBS…
Welcome to The Write Stuff
My blog about writing, journalism, crime, faith, life as we know it, and politics (if I can’t resist the temptation to stop myself, and if I think I might have something useful to say). As you can tell from the title of my second book, after 40 years as a reporter, I like to think…