literary culture | literary culture

Apr.08.2013 On Gratitude and the Poets Who Re-Empowered My Pen (graphic courtesy of Bright Skylark Literary Productions) One of the greatest triumphs of the human spirit is the ability to exercise gratitude in the face of grievous adversity. Cultivation of a sense of gratitude under any conditions is advantageous in general because it tames impulses...	Jan.23.2013 Recent Publications The second segment of my novella, "A Train Trip to Murder on Strawberry Point," featuring my post-Dostoevsky Ivan Karamazov, is appearing at Pikerpress.com this week. Bewildering Stories currently is featuring a new story of mine called, "The Unbefriended Dead." The address is...
Sep.16.2012 Literary Culture The word "culture" and "cultivate" have the same root in Latin. Cicero wrote about "cultura animi," or the development of the spirit as one also develops fruits and grains through watering, nourishing, pruning and harvesting them. The notion is that one, or a group, brings something...	Jun.01.2011 Tough Love from Author Enablers Helps Get the Writing Job Done WRITE THAT BOOK ALREADY! is a great volume for aspiring and established authors because the motivation, empowerment, and very useful knowledge it provides do not come to an end once you have finished reading the book itself. In fact, in many ways, that is when it takes on its greatest meaning and...
May.06.2011 The Passion-Driven Writer and the Digital-Age Literary Marketplace Following Michael Jackson's death in 2009, I wrote a series of blogs and articles to which thousands of websites--and more like two million where one article was concerned-- linked or simply "picked up" to add quality content to themed pages studded with ads. Most of the time, I was happy...	Sep.15.2010 21st Century Digital Authors on the Rise It's a curious thing to call oneself an author in this early half of the twenty-first century. The word now means so much more than it did when classic authors such as William Shakespeare, Frederick Douglass, or Anais Nin made their claims to literary fame. Although their works may have been as...
Oct.27.2008 Americans don't like to read translation? Following the CNN report about the top Nobel judge's unfavorable comment on American literature and the reactions it stirred up, there is heated discussion on a writer's online forum I frequent. It's understandable that many American writers are angered by Engdahl's words, and they return fire by...