A few days ago, I went to see the play, RED, written by John Logan. A winner of six Tony awards in 2010, RED tells the story of Mark Rothko,…
What Is It About The Troubled Artist?
Dreams That Work Overtime
Do you ever feel as if your life has taken a dramatic turn, as if you are part of some cosmic shift? That’s the feeling I woke up with late…
For The Love Of Books
Two writers–Rosemary Carstens, editor of the online magazine The Feast, and Shari Green, a Y/A author who writes compelling prose—recently sent me this video, which enthralled me for obvious reasons. …
Storytelling In THE ARTIST and THE DESCENDANTS
I started off the new year by seeing THE ARTIST, superbly directed and written by Michel Hazanavicius. It’s a curious film, since it’s mostly silent—except for the musical score and a…
Making Magical Memories at Christmas
I’m feeling particularly nostalgic this time of year, as my mother passed away at the end of October. She left behind a lot of magical memories, hers and mine, that…
The Help: Black and White and Red All Over
The 60s was a time when the relationships between the Blacks and the Whites grew embarrassingly red for many. The shame of it all is brilliantly captured in Kathryn Stockett’s…
Hemingway, A Master of Less Is More, More or Less
Ernest Hemingway was the master of saying a lot with less. Everything I read suggests novice writers—and some published writers—use too many words to get their point across. They use…
The Many Paths of Inspiration
I’ve written about inspiration before, but I gave it short shrift. The Encarta dictionary defines inspiration as: “stimulation for the human mind to creative thought or the making of art”.…
Harry Brown Meets Network
Some writers seem clairvoyant. Gary Young the screenwriter of the film, Harry Brown, certainly seems to be one of them. He showed inequities in one country’s social system before they…
Writing About Yearning In Fiction And Memoirs
Everyone wants a book that keeps them glued to the page. The ones that have me reading past bedtime are stories about family or some kind of skewed relationship or…