I am very honored that the great site, Indie Books List, has selected my novel, CONQUEST, as a Book of the Month Finalist!
Emotional Insight from Ernest Hemingway
Here’s a quote from Ernest Hemingway’s THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA: He looked across the sea and knew how alone he was now. But he could see the prisms in the deep dark water and the line stretching ahead and the strange undulation of the calm. The clouds were building up now for the trade wind and he looked … Read More
Bet You Didn’t Know They Talked About Sex Like This in the 1800’s (Emotional Insight from Walt Whitman)
If you’ve ever thought about writing, you’ve probably wondered if you could describe what sex feels like. Well, Walt Whitman, the poet, had a shot at it in the freaking 1800’s. Don’t we all have the impression that nobody talked about sex until, like, 1960 or something like that? Not so. Walt Whitman had a surprisingly frank take on it … Read More
Emotional Insight from T.S. Eliot’s “Love Song”
As you may have noticed, what I’m trying to do here is provide very punchy, powerful, easy-to-get-with emotional insights. Lots of great poems, plays and novels have beautiful stretches in them that lead up to, or include, something brief and powerful. I’m looking for these moments to feature in blog posts on this site. Similarly, with paintings, music and sculpture, … Read More
Easy-to-Get-With Emotional Insight… from Degas
The Ballet Dancer by Degas. Degas’ paintings of ballerinas are world-famous. Why is that? Let’s take a look at this one.
Another Stunner from GATSBY
A Sign Like the One Described in “Gatsby” I was talking about Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” in the comment section with reader Geaaronson the other day, so it seems like a good time for another blast of emotional insight from that novel. Have a look:
Win a Copy of My New Novel, “Conquest” at The Itzel Library
Many thanks to The Itzel Library, from Mexico, for hosting a giveaway of my new novel, “CONQUEST’! It’s an honor to have international attention. Follow The Itzel Library on Twitter at @Itzel_Library.
An Example of Emotional Insight from Emily Dickinson
The diction here is a bit of a push for us – not because of the words used, which are all quite familiar – but just because poets used to take a lot of poetic license in pushing diction around all over the place to fit the meter and the rhythm and the rhyme and so on and so forth. … Read More