THOUGHTS ON WRITING
I was recently asked for ‘a few thoughts about writing’ … Here, as succinctly as I can put them, they are … Whether you are a writer, reader, or some combination of both, …
MY GHOST GERTRUDE – PART IV
Since completion of the three-part series on my ghost, Gertrude, I had not intended to write more of her. Yet, a recent incident that I believe is another manifestation of her presence, …
MY GHOST GERTRUDE – PART III
My wife Paulie and I moved from Windham Center to Mason’s Island in Mystic, Connecticut, and Gertrude came to the new digs with us. As she was considered part of …
MY GHOST GERTRUDE – PART II
In Part I of “My Ghost Gertrude,” I revealed that I acquired a painting of Gertrude ****, an elegant woman of Dutch heritage who lived in the 1800s. I also …
MY GHOST GERTRUDE – PART I
In the early 1990s I acquired an oil portrait of a woman that was painted in 1840 by an artist named E. Sexton. The painting is 28 inches by 24 …
Wednesdays With Will – Negative Praise and Will’s Tool Belt
In several sonnets Shakespeare uses negativity to render praise upon the subject of the poem. This clever technique heightens the effect of positive praise found in the ending couplet. An …
Wednesdays With Will – Four Notable Women
In Shakespeare’s Othello, Desdemona defies her father’s wishes by marrying Othello. In the course of the play, Othello is convinced by the treacherous Iago that Desdemona has been unfaithful to …
Wednesdays With Will – In Search of Anne Hathaway
There are advantages to having lived at the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century. Specifically, the internet hadn’t been invented, and there were not a …
Wednesdays With Will – More Than a Couple of Words About the Couplets
Shakespeare wrote in what is now called the Shakespearean sonnet form and consists of three quatrains and a couplet. I particularly enjoy the couplets, as, through many of them Shakespeare’s …
Bret Manley Trilogy
This past October I visited western Connecticut to research scenes for the third novel of my Bret Manley Trilogy, following ‘To Sleep … Perchance to Die’ and ‘Revenge Best Served Bloody.’ …