Tony Soprano once told Dr. Melfi that doing therapy is like taking a shit. As a veteran of the DSM-IV style of shrinkage, I'm not sure I agree. But, I will say that writing a book is like trying not to soil your pants in public. Frantically hurrying to finish. Sweating and fussing. Trying like … Continue reading Here’s to clean pants and finished novels

The wife suddenly decided the husband needed to begin doing daily yoga with her. Other than the physical activity, the weird positions, and the bizarre hours involved (she yogs at 5 a.m.), I wouldn't mind the yoga so much. It doesn't help that my rotundness prevents me from doing most of the positions correctly. The … Continue reading Can yoga save your marriage? No, it can’t

I was once accused of bias in an opinion column I wrote. That this person took issue with my opinion appearing on the opinion page of the newspaper was not a first but it did get me to thinking about bias in news. There are several types of bias: institutional, bias by omission, spin, bias … Continue reading A totally biased look at the issue of bias

The Writer's Circle [sic] on Facebook (I know, it should be “The Writers Circle” because it's a circle of writers and not a circle that belongs to the writer—see the AP Style Manual, which covers “farmers markets” and “teachers lounges” in the same manner.) put out this 30-day writing challenge. Being that I have two … Continue reading Taking the 30-minute writing challenge

I think if a door-to-door insurance salesman comes into your house to try to sell you a term life policy, and he's wearing thick leather gloves the entire time, it's OK to ask him if he'd like a glass of lemonade. And then, while his back is turned, you should conk him over the head … Continue reading The butler probably didn’t do it