In the course of writing my whale-sized whaling novel, I've accumulated a long shelf's worth of books on whaling, and whales, and wooden sailing ships, and navigation---because for a nerd-brain like mine, at least half the fun is in the research and the details. the whaling "research library" For a nerd-brain like mine, having gone … Continue reading When the Journey IS the Journey
Tag: Language
On Hobbits & Hobbit-Holes
One of my favorite coffee mugs was a gift from my sister, covered all over with "famous first lines" of novels. I have a degree in English literature, and I still had to look a few of them up---I guess they can't all be "Call me Ishmael." But I do think there's one first line … Continue reading On Hobbits & Hobbit-Holes
“8 Things About Lists”?
I could be said (with some amount of understatement) to have a penchant for list-making. I came by it honestly, if there's a gene for that---my dad actually kept a list of all his lists. (A meta-list?) I'm sorry now that I never asked him what his List List was for. Were there lists he … Continue reading “8 Things About Lists”?
Where There’s (NOT) a Will
I have a bone to pick with Professor Williams. In an entire college semester of a class devoted exclusively to Shakespeare's work, he never once mentioned that there was any question about who had actually written those works. That feels to me like a massive omission. The omission itself tells me Professor Williams's stance in … Continue reading Where There’s (NOT) a Will
Between the Covers
Hey, take your mind out of the gutter! BOOK covers. I'm between the BOOK-covers of one of the hilarious social commentaries novels penned by Charles Dickens---and this particular copy of this particular book has me thinking... I really do love the heft and the presence of a real paper book. BUT. Because I don't have … Continue reading Between the Covers
“Hello My Name Is”
This morning a customer didn't bother to tell me his name, just went straight to spelling it. Yeah, it was one of THOSE names. Not as confounding as some, but definitely not one I would have gotten right without having him spell it out. "My sister and I grew up with a maiden name we … Continue reading “Hello My Name Is”
Radio-Speak (Do You Copy?)
My first sailing trips were under the tutelage of my uncle, who's a stickler for doing things properly. (Best training ever! Sailing with Uncle Dick made my later "official" training a breeze. Even when the "breeze" was 18 knots!) Uncle Dick's pet peeve regarding the radio is when someone signs off with "Over and Out." … Continue reading Radio-Speak (Do You Copy?)



