“The public should consider any woman who requested, permitted, or performed an abortion to be insane“ — Once upon a time, men didn’t know much about women’s bodies, nevermind pregnancy. Some say that hasn’t changed, but at least today doctors know not to stick their hands up a woman’s hoo-ha without washing first. Because that was a thing, and I kid you not. It’s how Mary Shelley’s…

Despite all the kvetching people did about Ev, censorship is one Pandora’s box he was smart enough not to open — Yesterday I read a post by a data scientist who works in the field of climate change. He is pissed. To say the least. He said there’s too much crap in the climate change topic. Much of it by “top” writers here. They are big on drama and short on…

Except it’s locked. Who locked the box? And why 2039? — “Hollywood is a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.” — Marilyn Monroe Kneeling on the floor of the storage room, she’s trying to wrap her head around what she’s seeing. It makes no sense. Her name is Becky Altringer…

“We learn from failure, not success” — Bram Stoker — “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward.” — Steve Jobs I don’t even like Steve Jobs, but he was right about the dots. You can’t connect them looking forward. Only hindsight is 20/20. I had a rough start here! Couldn’t get views to…

Fire burn and cauldron bubble, his play was cursed with death and trouble. — The audience sat in the dark. Waiting. Watching. Suddenly, a loud crack of thunder. Then lightning. In a flash of light, they finally see them. Huddled at center stage. Witches. Three of them. Cackling about when to meet again. When the hurly-burly’s done When the battle’s lost and won They…

Good writing is subjective. Bad writing is not. — “The writer who breeds more words than he needs is making a chore for the reader who reads.” ―Dr. Seuss Last week I got some people mad. I wrote a piece that said a lot of writers should ignore the “tricks” to get more views and focus more on writing…

What do 3 old women, a drag queen and a Hollywood hell-raiser have in common? They all became Disney villains. — Once upon a time, fairy tale characters lived in people’s imaginations. Writers like Hans Christian Andersen and The Brothers’ Grimm wrote fairy tale books, and readers imagined the characters in our heads. We sort of knew what Snow White looked like. Hair black as ebony, skin white as snow. But…

The competition is not as stiff as you think and here’s why — Let me tell you the stupidest thing. Last time I wrote about a writing challenge, the challenge was to write a story that started with a specific sentence. I emphasized that strongly. More than once. Start with *this* sentence. Don’t put anything in front of it!! One reader asked me…

Didn’t matter what his wife said. People believe what they want. — Every Saturday, while the other kids played outside, Charles Bukowski mowed the lawn. North to south, then east to west. When he was done, his father would lay in the center of the lawn to look at it from eye level. He’d turn his head this way and that, looking…