Archives in Category: Writing

Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

Nothing Is Simple

Posted on October 18, 2004

Things get complicated really fast in today’s world. I work part-time for my son and his partner who own a business in New York City. They are considering changing banks because they think they might get better service from a

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A Dip Is Not A Rill

Posted on October 16, 2004

I’m staring out the window watching leaves swirl in the wind. On our property, there is an indentation across the front lawn, and many leaves huddle there; perhaps it’s because the wind affects them less.

It’s really the indentation that has

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Barnacles in Politics

Posted on October 5, 2004

I’ve reviewed my notes regarding the recent political debate between incumbent Bush and challenger Kerry. I’ve also listened to a variety of talking heads regarding who was the winner on that evening. And tonight, as I fill the time between

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Grammar

Posted on October 3, 2004

It’s a funny thing about grammar. Most people think it’s a set of rules cast in stone that they learned in grade school and then were forced to follow forevermore. It’s as if they could write only sentences and paragraphs

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Barnacles

Posted on September 30, 2004

A barnacle is a person or thing that clings tenaciously, according to Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary. And a variety of barnacles are creeping into the English language. They are as unwelcome as their watery cousins, the alewives, since both tend to

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Epitaph

Posted on September 23, 2004

A few days ago, I wrote about Robert Louis Stevenson. Through his writings, he was my childhood friend. Through mine, I hope he would consider me a fellow writer. But with only ten minutes to share something about him, I

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Power of Purpose

Posted on September 22, 2004

It is every writer’s disappointment: to enter a contest or send a manuscript to a publisher with high hopes, only to have them crushed by rejection.

I have played this game long enough – at least fifteen years – to know

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Oldest Book

Posted on September 20, 2004

I own five or six hundred books at most, since I’m not as interested in owning as reading them. I’m prone to recycling with friends, giving to the Salvation Army, and generally keeping books I might have to move to

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Letters

Posted on September 7, 2004

The pen and paper approach to writing letters is on the endangered species list of social graces, because snail mail simply hasn’t evolved as much as its cousin, the email.

However, there is a certain pleasure in opening one’s physical mailbox

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What to Write

Posted on August 14, 2004

Sometimes people ask how I come up with my topic for the “Ten Minutes A Day” column on my web site. They seem to think that it would be hard to find something to write every day.

The truth is that

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