Man blinks book

Some days writing is hard. Actually, it’s not so much the writing, but the sitting down to write that is the hard part for me. But my hardest day writing is nothing compared to every day of writing for the former editor of the French version of ELLE Magazine, Jean-Dominique Bauby. A stroke left him completely paralyzed, except for the ability to blink his left eye.

His left eye is all he needed to write his next book. He blinked out every letter of his memoir The Diving Bell and the Butterfly to an assistant who held up a slate with the alphabet.

Think about it. No pre-writing. No notes. No cut and paste. No spell check. No google.

A new movie…

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What's a literary emergency?

It’s when your agent emails you a long list of things that an editor interested in your book wants and you think to yourself, “Awesome! I should be able to get that knocked out in the next three or four days.” And then you read that you have to have it all done by 6pm and it’s already 3pm.

I got it all taken care of. With more time, I could have done a better job, but it is what it is. Plus, instead of hanging over my head for a few days, it was only there for a few (very intense) hours.

My proposal has made it several steps into a few publishing houses and I’ve got my fingers crossed. I really can’t think of…

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The guilt of nothing

Ever have one of those days where you out-lazy the family pet? I had one Saturday.

Annie was Christmas shopping with her family for the day and it was just me and Oreo.

OREO: “Are you just going to sit there all day?”

ME: “What have you done today Ms. Perrrductive.”

OREO: “I cleaned my belly. Took a nap. Ate. Stared at the ceiling for no apparent reason because I like to make you think I see ghosts. And stuck my butt in your face. All-in-all, I’ve been pretty busy. What have you done?”

ME: “I’ve lead the Fighting Illini in NCAA Basketball 2005 to a 10-0 record.”

OREO: “That’s pathetic. I saw what you did. You made a guy that could jump higher, run faster,…

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Shedd aquarium: "Save seahorses, buy our souvenirs!"

The seahorses were sleeping, tails wrapped around branches, lights dimmed. Beneath them glowed a sign:

Buy crafts made in our giftshop, made by Filipino seahorse fishers and their families. You’ll help the families earn a living without having to catch sea horses.

Huh?

Where did the Shedd aquarium get their seahorses? I would guess they bought them or their progenitors from those Filipino fishers they’re so valiantly trying to wean off of capturing and selling seahorses.

But what really irks me is the fact the aquarium is encouraging its patrons to spend money in their gift shop as a solution to helping the endangered seahorses.

I’ve spent over a month of my life under the ocean’s surface and, if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that the ocean is big. …

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Look at me Ma, I’m on ABC news!

I was browsing around today and stumbled across my latest contribution to the CS Monitor on the ABC news website.

It’s a funny thing not knowing when and where something you write and sell is going to show up. The Monitor has 90-day rights to do whatever the heck they want to do with anything I contribute to them. I suppose if they wanted to turn the Fantasy Kingdom piece into a mini-series starring Ricky Schroeder they could.

It would be nice to be in the know about where and when my writing is going to show up, but I don’t have much of a problem not knowing. Really, I think it’s pretty cool that someone at ABC News liked my story, too. And it’s a…

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Where in the World is my Where am I Wearing Winnings?

Kent, Rachael, and Melissa, I owe you all a WAIW t-shirt. Melissa won this contest and Kent and Rachael this one. Email me the address you would like your shirt sent to and I’ll get right on it. Or if you would prefer to receive a coffee mug I could do that, too. Just specify.

I’m about to place my annual Touron Attire Christmas gift order and I’ll have your winnings shipped to you directly even if you live half way around the world in New Zealand!

(Note: Kent and Rachael, you were supposed to win a year’s subscription to National Geographic Traveler, but the offer from NG was only good for the USA. Sorry, hope the T-shirt makes up for it.)…

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