A 1905 letter from Virginia Woolf offers comfort to anyone who lacks confidence in their own work. As a young, would-be writer, Woolf herself expressed doubt about her own abilities. It would be another 23 years before she published her...
Oenophiles are known for their evocative writing about wine, but thatβs also true for sophisticated bourbon lovers. Some sensuous tasting notes from bourbon expert Susan Reigler from American Whiskey magazine serve as a case in point. This is part...
Iranian-American poet Solmaz Sharif once observed that βThe duty of the writerβ¦is to remind us that we will die. And that we arenβt dead yet.β This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of βDuty of the Writerβ I really appreciated this quotation...
Books were rare treasures in the Middle Ages, painstakingly copied out by hand. So how to protect them from theft? Scribes sometimes added a curse to the first page of those books that was supposed to keep thieves away β and some were as vicious as...
Images of birds flutter inside lots of English words and phrases, from βnest eggβ and βpecking order,β to proverbs from around the worldβincluding a lovely Spanish saying about how birds sense light just before dawn. Plus, how do you define βfunβ...
Several years ago, the National Endowment for the Arts devoted a whole issue of its magazine to the topic of βThe Art of Failure: The Importance of Risk and Experimentation.β Writers, artists, and musicians all shared their insights about their...

