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Sure people will make comments. And I will engage in a dialogue about those comments if I feel like it. So what. I think telling someone that you could find nothing wrong with their work says much more about you than about their work. You don't need to be a mindreader to be polite. As an...

Harry saw me up to the apartment door. I knew that he and the guys had watched me over to Coco, and that the block was full of other information for Harry and Brendan and the guys. He did his job. That’s what he’s paid to do, it’s fine. But when I was inside, I felt that there was really...

"I couldn't find much wrong with it." is not a compliment to an author, it's a self-congratulatory snide comment. I recently published an economics piece for which I interviewed three subjects. One was a very successful head of a large section of Smith Barney, a multimillionaire who studied...

But where did the knife come from? Boo brought it. If you read the scene where the kids are attacked, the sequence is: they hear someone following them they start to run the person runs up behind them Scout gets pushed and crushed Jem lands on her they start to run again Jem...

Gee, Robert, I don't know whether to say thanks or tell you to **** off. You really should watch the condescending tone. I've been a professional editor for 20 years (in both sci/tech professional and trade) and a self-supporting freelance writer for 10, with several pieces of published fiction...

Thanks for the review, Shade. I'm actually a fair way into the book right now, and the 'we' perspective is really grating. I didn't like it from the beginning, but I thought it might get better, especially if he found a streak of humor, but that hasn't happened. I can't help but feel he...

Today's installment Sorry about the little continuity problems. Working from memory, I screwed up a little in the last episode. A voice from parties past, and one that I would have been happy to never hear again. Samantha Aubusson-Matthews, known to some as Birdy. She, encased in...

The question can be interpreted two ways, so I will answer both. While, IMO, having a literary education is essential, I don't think having a university degree is particularly useful to a novelist, unless of course you supplement your income from writing by teaching writing, as many do--in...

Let's see, where were we . . . The door to Coco was heavy. I felt silly pulling it open with two hands, as though my studied composure had already been compromised. The air inside was warm and faintly smoky. Sal discreetly lets the regulars smoke, though he would deny this if asked. It was...

Clearly you're the new SFG.

In the US, dissertations are mostly done only for the PhD, and there would be an oral part and a written part in front of a committee. Is that what you're talking about?

Oh, Ell, you always speak to my heart. I spent a month of one summer, when I was maybe 11 or 12, carrying the book to the beach ( I had it from the library), reading it, carrying it back to the house, reading it some more. It was my companion for a month, I think. Some older girls I knew had...

No editor would agree to publish your book if he or she hated it. The idea of an editor hacking up a manuscript out of hate is silly. It would be like buying a coat and then immediately taking it apart at the seams. Why spend the money? If they buy the book, they are committing to your work...

Yes, Ell is very perceptive and expresses herself with clarity. Her presence is a great asset here.

Let's take a passage like the following, from Joyce: The snotgreen sea. The scrotumtightening sea. It is a symbol of Irish art. The cracked lookingglass of a servant. Kingstown pier, Stephen said. Yes, a disappointed bridge. I fear those big words, Stephen said, which make us so...

I feel bad because nobody every recognizes my own planet. Which sucks. Anyway, assuming every one of your constituents is an earthling, isn't it somewhat selfcongratulatory? Go team. Do you wake up every morning rooting for your own family? I always wish my hub would make a couple mistakes...

This peripherally relates to the Recommending books you haven't read thread, in that lots of the books people recommend but haven't read are demanding at some level. That doesn't mean they're over anyone's head, but there are many readers who suck on the low-hanging fruit because it's easier...

Clearly you are prejudiced against people who are only slightly mentally ill. Not everyone can be as mental as you. But I guess that's why you are so loved.

You naughty minx.

It's what I think of as The Foreign Movie Phenomenon. You're watching a simple movie about a fiery wench in weird clothes who wants her true love to stay home and eat baked potatoes. But it's in another language. And there are subtitles. You are catching some of the meaning, but not all, and...