Earl Merkel's Blog (5)

'Publisher Seeking Authors!' Danger, Will Robinson? by Earl Merkel October 16, 2009, 9:05 am A writer e-mails me to ask about ad ("Publisher Looking for Authors!"). I reply-- but is your answer different? Respond, and I'll forward your comments. --Earl Merkel ----------------------- Original E-Mail to Earl Merkel: Sent: Thu, Oct 15, 2009 10:17 am Subject: FW: publisher looking for authors Dear Earl: I received this through my writing group. The article talks… Continue

by Earl Merkel October 2, 2009, 7:50 am There's a myth --started, I suspect, by writers-- that all writers write "not because we want to, but because we have to." The compulsion to write is, we tell people, an "artist sort of thing." Uh-huh. Ri-i-i-ght. Yeah-- that explains why so many of us stare at the morning's blank computer screen, motionless hands poised over the keyboard, until our eyeballs bleed. And then we do random Google searches, check our e-mail, surf for… Continue

by Earl Merkel September 27, 2009 Another good one bites the dust. If you're not familiar with William Safire's ON LANGUAGE columns, you're simply not as good a writer as you could be. Period. He was also a take-no-prisoners -type of columnist-- and one who backed up his opinions with carefully researched fact. No "nabob" he, Mr. Safire will be missed by those who savor both finely honed writing and the practice of column-writing as a blood-sport. --Earl Merkel ----------------------… Continue

by Earl Merkel September 13, 2009, 2:40 pm As a recovering journalist, I still find my decades-old j-school training occasionally reminding me how lazy --even cowardly-- I often feel these days. It nags particularly loudly when I catch myself personally avoiding that most rare of today's journalistic attributes: an impartial fairness in dealing with an uncomfortable story. I try to ease that guilt by telling myself that I'm no longer subject to either unyielding deadlines nor old-school, "rep… Continue

by Earl Merkel September 11, 2009, 6:09 am Did he try to barter Obama's Senate seat? Well, he says, yes-- not, he insists, for money... but for love. The interview referenced below is in the second bloc of our show, but you guys might enjoy the rest of the program, too. Still, if you just want to hear Mr. Blagojevich choke-and-stutter, it's at about 12:50 min into the program. <<i>chuckle> Please note the opening and closing musical "bumpers" we used, in honor of Blago's oft-procla… Continue