It’s that part of the summer where I have to turn on the air conditioner as soon as I wake up, which is not something I’m fond of.  It also means that my allergies tend to need about an hour to cool out before I’m completely competent, and that has some interesting consequences for the…

Well, the ms went back yesterday–hard copy UPS, electronic copies of corrections in the e-mail.  I spent all night having weird dreams about how my back yard–a flat, straight expanse that runs down to a brook–was really hilly and hard to walk on and full of logs with their bark stripped. There was always some guy…

So, it’s the day before the fourth of July, and I’ve just spent three hours trying to find instances of people in dialogue talking about things that “don’t make sense,”  and then get them to say something else. And then I decided that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to take a short break. …

So, here I am.  The day is beautiful.  The pollen count is virtually nil.  And, for once, I’ve gotten what feels like serious work done.   At least, it’s work I’m pretty sure I’m not going to have to change tomorrow. Considering what things have been like around here during these revisions, that’s not a small…

For those of you who liked the title but didn’t get the reference to The Addams Family…um. But it’s a little earlier this morning, and I may be a little more coherent. The question of what makes a bad book of fiction is more difficult than the question of what makes a bad book of…

Let’s put it this way:  I never want to revise a book this way again. I finished up this morning and then looked through the pages I have that I can consider “done,” and what I’ve noticed is that it’s not that I’ve changed all that much as a total of the book, but that…

So, okay.  Periodically, I generate quite a bit of heat on this blog by saying that I think that there are objective standards that can be used to determine if a book is “good.” Let me go to a related question:  are there objective standards for what makes a book bad? As with questions about…

So.  Experts. Well, let me say something first–as long as we’re talking about the kind of thing Cheryl is, where what schools are doing is simple enforcing on-site behavior (sit still and shut up in class unless called on, for instance), I’ve got no problem. I do have a problem with things like anti-bullying initiatives,…

Every once in a while, I find myself stuck in situations and I can’t figure out what I’m doing there.  This is one of them.  I have no idea why so many of you seem to have assumed that, because I presented the case I did yesterday, I wanted to school to be involved with…

I am having one of those mornings where I really shouldn’t write anything, not the blog, not a post card.  I’m in a foul mood for a reason that even I accept as being essentially trivial–but I’m like anybody else.  Push my buttons, and you will get a response. So I’m going to try to…