Literally Blogging

Okay, a question for readers and writers, and writers who are readers, and most of all readers who want to be writers:
What book or books do you wish you had written? If you could travel back in time and steal the manuscript out of someone’s outgoing mail and send to an agent with your name on it, what would it be?
I’ll start this off with two books that I love on their own merits but also secretly resent the authors a little for being the ones who wrote them.
The first is Watership Down, by Richard Adams. It was …read more

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I was twelve years old when I first fell in love, the quick-burning, star-dazzled kind that hits you suddenly and leaves you dizzy.
It was with a boy I saw after school, a boy who leaned against the railing with its peeling brown paint, unaware of the after-school shrieks and grinding gears of school buses all around him, his eyes never leaving the book he held. I couldn’t see what book it was, but it was a thick book, the long kind with no pictures that only real readers would read.

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Well, friends, I’ve done it. I’ve uncovered another clue in our latest literary mystery. I saw the man reading on his porch again: same spot in the book, naturally. So I went home to get my digital camera, hoping to snap his picture and post it here, in case any of our FBI agent readers may recognize him.
Perhaps that would be unethical or even illegal, but really, what do laws matter in the pursuit of truth and justice? Alas, he wasn’t there when I returned. But his book was. Knowing that the identity of the tome could provide crucial evidence, …read more

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For my inaugural post (hi, I’m Rob), I thought I would roll up my sleeves and share a real nuts and bolts sort of link for those of you who, like myself, might be starting on the road to publication. If you’re already a published author, swell. We’re very proud of you. Now go away and leave us to our desperation.
Last summer, after beginning work on a memoir about my experiences raising an amazing and strange little girl with a rare neurological disorder that keeps her from speaking, I began my search for an agent. I’d …read more

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One of my biggest regrets in childhood was that I did not have a governess. Yes, I read too many Victorian novels. But really, could I be blamed for turning out such a mess without that faithful role model to guide me with a firm yet kind hand? How could I ever be expected to learn to act like a lady?
If there’s one archetype that rules 19th century literature, it is the governess. She of the tight bun, grim dresses, and unadorned face. The woman so plain, and poor, and alone, that she should’ve been completely overlooked… yet she always …read more

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This is one of my favorite categories here, because if literature is filled with one thing, it’s whackjobs. Writers and readers are totally nutters, and we love them for it.
We have a Literally Wacky mystery on our hands, my friends. One we are going to solve. For three days now, as I’ve roamed around my apartment complex for some errand or another, I’ve passed a guy sitting on his porch, reading a book. Not so unusual, except that he’s always staring at the exact same spot in the book. In three days, he hasn’t progressed at all. Well, okay, I …read more

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