ROLLING “R”s by Steven Steinbock Your Jabberwalking journalist and his beamish boy (Nate, the 17 year-old, not Sam the 13 year-old Travis McGee fan) are on the road visiting colleges. In that academic spirit I’m going to wax linguistical. There are funny things going on with that eighteenth letter of ours. I was cooking the […]

READING TO WRITE by Deborah Elliott-Upton Writers face consistent pressure to produce a certain amount of pages per day. Talk about performance anxiety! Sure, we force this stress on ourselves as often as we accept deadlines, but that doesn’t make it any less traumatic. For those of us who write every day, you’d think the […]

TANGLED IN YOUR OWN BOOTSTRAPS by Rob Lopresti I was recently at an independent bookstore, The Shredded Page, doing a reading for my new book, The Knitting for Zombies Diet. (Available now! The perfect stocking stuffer for Chanukah!) We had a good crowd, and I can say in all modesty that my audience appeared to […]

MAD WOMAN WORKING by Melodie Johnson Howe I have decided to follow in the footsteps of Steve, Rob, and John, and show my office. Unlike their very neat offices, I thought I would let you see the real me at work. Messy desk, messy hair, no makeup. Over the years I have had many in-home […]

A MAGIC WORD by James Lincoln Warren At left, the Egyptian god Thoth, wearing a crown consisting of the disc of the sun and a crescent moon, representing his aspect as a bringer of light. At right, the astronomical and alchemical symbol for the planet and element Mercury, derived from the shape of the Greek […]

CRIME NEWS by Leigh Lundin News time again and this month it’s potluck or potpourri, depending upon your definition. As usual, the terms ‘alleged’ and ‘accused’ apply and people aren’t guilty until proved otherwise, your mileage may vary. Robbing a Cancer Hospital New York, New York.  Marque Gumbs sounds like a French cartoon, but it’s […]

SIGNING BONUS by John M. Floyd As any writer can tell you, a book signing event is a unique experience. It always holds the possibility of being either a raging success or a dismal failure, and of course usually falls somewhere between those extremes. But beyond the effort and the salesmanship and the “mechanics” of […]