Even If It’s Fiction—Should Writers Lie? I read a review on one of my books the other day, and the person found it unbelievable that 6-year-old kids were drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and using foul language. Mind you, these scenes took place 30+ years ago, and in an ethnic neighborhood in the city. But this wasn’t the […]
Freckles—The Perfect Pet? I was being a little disingenuous with the title of this post; Freckles is not the perfect pet. At least not for us, but she could be the perfect pet for someone. Freckles is a rat terrier mix. If I didn’t know better I’d swear the “mix” part was wolverine. Thirteen years ago we […]
Good Dogs and Bad Dogs There are good dogs like Gracie (Coffee Dog), who I wrote about here, and here. And there are good pigs like Sweet Pete, who I mentioned here. And then…there are dogs like Mollie. The first post I ever wrote was about Mollie—more specifically, the trouble she caused. And then I wrote about her again […]
Talking Dogs and Good Storytelling What Makes Good Storytelling No matter the media, good storytelling requires good material. It doesn’t matter if it’s a book, a movie, or a joke—the material has to be good. But even good material isn’t enough. Any comedian can tell you horror tales of jokes that fell flat or audiences […]
As many of you know, my daughter, Aliza, is a professional genealogist. She writes for several Italian-American newspapers and has posted articles here in the past. People’s interest in their family history has grown tremendously in the past several years, and with that in mind, I thought you might be interested in learning a little […]
Is Storytelling Genetic? What makes a good story? How come some books you can’t put down, have to turn the page, start a new chapter, and others…might be good, but if you go to bed late and are tired, the book waits for the next day. How about movies. Some movies you can leave running […]
This Is Why I Write Ask ten authors why they write and you’ll probably get ten answers, and likely they’ll be ten very long answers. Some authors say it’s in their blood, that they wanted to write since they could hold a pen. I was too busy playing and getting into trouble as a youngster. […]
Living In The Shadows—The Fate of Secondary Characters I was watching a movie the other night that looked like it had promise. The first ten minutes got me interested and the main character was intriguing. And then I met the rest of the cast. With only one exception, they were dull, flat, cliched, and otherwise […]
What I Learned From Coffee Dog A few months ago I did a post about Gracie, the coffee dog. What I didn’t say in that post was that Gracie had been suffering from diabetes for a few years. Now the disease has progressed rapidly, bringing on complete blindness. She gets insulin shots twice a day, […]
A Giant Of A Man Many, many years ago, growing up in the Cleland Heights section of Wilmington, DE., I learned a lesson that I’ve never forgotten. The lesson was taught to me by my mother, a woman who had a way of making you recognize the truth. People say the best lessons are the […]
