July 1st, 2018 → 7:15 am
“Ware pencils, ho!” – Love’s Labour’s Lost
I just spent the past two hours struggling with but one paragraph of my current novel. Damn the intro to chapter 7, curse the writing life, bugger this voracious hunger to write, write, write. To all my fellow authors out there: Never Give Up!!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
May 26th, 2018 → 5:15 am
“We came into the world like brother and [sister]
And now let’s go hand in hand, not one before another.” – The Comedy of Errors
Benedict Cumberbatch is my new hero, for saying he will boycott any project that does not pay female co-stars the same as their male co-stars. He is urging other actors to do the same. And if that isn’t enough, apparently he is a “fervent feminist.” I don’t think I’ve had this big a crush on an actor since Michael J. Fox and Back to the Future!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
April 22nd, 2018 → 6:44 am
“Look thou character.
Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar;
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel,
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatched, unfledged courage. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear’t that th’opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man…
Neither a borrower nor a lender be,
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow as the night the day
Thou canst not then be false to any man.” – Hamlet
It’s Shakespeare’s birthday sometime this week (we don’t actually know the exact day), and in the interest of saluting the bard, I’m quoting some of his pithiest advice. There are some really good nuggets in there. Hard to pick a favorite, but… today maybe it’s… ‘Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.’
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Other
February 18th, 2018 → 6:27 am
“A sentence is but a cheveril glove to a good wit.” – Twelfth Night
I’m busy waking early every morning, editing draft 5 of my latest novel. I just reworked the opening scene to one of the middle chapters. It feels good, I think things flows better now. But crafting the perfect sentence is hard! I can agonize over it for hours! Writing is most definitely an art. As difficult and messy as I imagine working cheveril was for Shakespeare’s father. But when done right, a sentence’s beauty can take your breath away.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
November 3rd, 2017 → 5:07 am
Glendower: “I can call spirits from the vasty deep.”
Hotspur: “Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them?” – King Henry IV, Part I
I wake most mornings and try to write – some days, the words flow, other days, they do not. Imagination and creativity are mysterious spirits. I only wish I could see to the bottom of their vasty deep; I bet it is a riot down there.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Self/My Life
September 30th, 2017 → 5:41 am
“Leave thy lascivious wassails.” – Antony and Cleopatra
wassail – to drink copious amounts of alcohol and enjoy oneself with others in a noisy, lively way; to carouse (n. a carousal)
Personally, I could go for a lascivious wassail right about now.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
June 5th, 2017 → 10:44 am
“Once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin’s back,
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude sea grew civil at her song,
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea maid’s music.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream
A shout out to Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, Liam Gallagher, and all the other musicians (and fans!) who came out for One Love Manchester. The terrorists will never win.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
May 6th, 2017 → 5:29 am
“These news are everywhere; every tongue speaks ’em.” – Henry VIII
Apparently in the 16th century ‘news’ was considered a plural noun. Today, it is “singular in construction.” When did that happen? I often forget whether ‘data’ is considered singular or plural. Politics? Economics? They can be both. It’s exhausting, this protean nature of language!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
April 28th, 2017 → 5:08 am
“…the devil is a niggard.” – Henry VIII
If you type “niggard” into Google, it auto-corrects into “niggardly,” neither word of which has anything to do with blackamoores (the primary term for Blacks in Tudor England). It means, simply, a stingy person.
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art
April 24th, 2017 → 6:07 am
“Who is it that can tell me who I am?” – King Lear
No one, but since I’m not one for unfounded conspiracy theories, I’ll just assume Shakespeare was Shakespeare and celebrate the joy of his birth (which was sometime this week). Happy birthday Shakespeare and thanks for the beautiful literature!
Filed under: Blog & Literature/Theatre/Art & Other