Authors Electric

   I saw no way out at the end of Part 1. I was kidding myself to pretend that I sat on the fence with a glimmer of hope that I wasn't toast as a writer. I'd run low on time and still lower on luck. And there I was with a gimp knee and an unfinished new novel I'd abandoned for too long. For half a year I'd tried in vain to find the stuff to get back to it. But I couldn't imagine a way out from under the weight of the odds stacked against me near the end of my Seventies Show. For two weeks I plotted my goodbye. By the day I grew more mindful of foolish decisions and choices--professional and personal--that sidelined a writing career that began with so much promise in 1988 (four books with two major publishers, an international award). Stubbornly, and against all advice, I persisted in writing short novels (don't call them novellas!) because I loved the challenge of mastering the short form, though no agent would even look at these works. By the time I felt ready ...

Let's start off with hair, since we all love our hair though we're often driven nuts by it. From (t)hair we can move on to killing our mates when they hate the books we love or don't share our craving for pasta. Luck allowing, we'll have time to share a few thoughts about ebooks. Okay! You have four basic choices for cutting your hair: 1) You can cut it yourself. 2) You can go to the cheapest spot in town. 3) You can go to an old school-style barber who's mastered all the basic cuts and charges only a few dollars more. 4) You can go to a salon and pay designer prices for a more individual and expressive look. You can shave have your pate or mow your hair down to a passable buzz cut. For anything else, though, you really should pay....top dollar to get what is best for your hair. Good, we're making progress here. And, because you're all clever, I know you'll have guessed that the same four options apply to the killing of spouses. ...

          Asking a reader about e-books can be a risky business. The topic is almost as touchy as asking someone about sports or politics. Worse even, its like asking a sixteenth century Christian how many fingers one uses to cross himself . I have a writer friend who makes absolutely no bones about her disdain for ebooks . Another writer friend thinks they're great since that is where most folks are buying his books .           I fall somewhere between these two extremes. I far prefer reading a tangible book (further, I prefer hardcover to paperback, but paperback to e-book) since to me reading is far more than an exercise for the brain. It's a physical thing, too. I like how different books feel, Vonnegut books are light as a feather, for example, but a John Irving novel is heavy. Older books have rough pages that have turned tan with age and flipping, but new books are fresh and slick. And...