This time around, it was my turn to come up with the topic for Carly & Karen’s Round Robin Photo Challenge, so I chose “Secrets.”
I recently went exploring around Richmond’s famous Hollywood Cemetery, (no connection to Hollywood, California), a fascinating place with very old graves dating back to the early 19th century. More than 1800 Confederate soldiers are buried in this cemetery, as well as three U.S. Presidents.
We’ve all heard the phrase, “taking a secret to the grave.” Eventually, the graves themselves stop telling their tales, when time, …

One last weekly meme. Why? Oh, I don’t know…call me a glutton for punishment, I guess.
The concept for this one is pretty simple: there is one topic, two different questions, but you pick the one you want to answer and answer only that one.
Sounds easy enough, right? Well, let’s have a go of it, shall we?
THIS WEEK’S TOPIC: AGE
QUESTION A:When you were in high school, if you could have picked any age to jump to and stay that age forever, which would you …

Bill of “The Wildcat’s Lair” recently showed off the writing space he and his wife share. (Yes, they’re writing a book together, which fascinates me.)
So I thought I would do the same. I will admit that I did clean up a little, but there were several things piling up that I had needed to attend to anyway before the end of the month, so I used “picture time” as an excuse to attend to them!

You’ll note the squeak ball in the lower right of the …

How much would you pay to allow someone famous to kill you?
Sounds like a strange question, but someone paid $25,100 last week to appear in Stephen King‘s upcoming novel, Cell. The “honor” was being auctioned off to raise money for the First Amendment Project.
If the winning bidder is fortunate enough to be female, not only will King use the bidder’s name, but he’ll make sure that the character is actually killed in the novel, which he describes as a violent tale about cell phones that destroy users’ …

Last week’s question focused on television shows you wouldn’t want to be stranded without. I’d hate for the silver screen to get jealous of the small screen, so I thought I’d devote this question to something about movies.
But first, it’s the custom around here to recognize the person who was first to post their responses to last week’s question, and that would be Lily of “This Drama I Call ‘Life’” was first to play last week’s edition. Congratulations!
THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:
Of the movies in your current DVD or VHS …

Here we are, up and running with the Spirit of 76…76 editions of the “Saturday Six,” that is.
I included a few questions from two weeks ago, suggested by those who played for possible Reader’s Choice questions. If you have one you’d like to see asked, email it to me and be sure to include a link to your journal (if you have one) so that I can mention you as the source of the question.
But first, Jeff of “What the Hell?” was first to play last week. …

Important lesson: make them check your DVD in while you’re there at movie rental stores!
I found out the hard way what can happen once you drop your DVD rental in their drop box and move on, assuming all will be well. The last time I’d visited the rental store was on July 1st. I returned the DVD roughly on time, but on July 18th, according to the store’s records, the DVD case was found to be empty.
But at the time, I didn’t know any of that.
When I moved to Richmond, …

I must be missing something here. Two years ago, my wireless carrier, Verizon, informed me that I would be eligible for a “free” phone when it was time to renew my service. The “free” part only applies to phones less than $100 in cost. Phones more expensive than $100 would be sold to me less a $100 discount. No problem.
A few months back, I asked about this when I thought I had lost my phone. They told me that my renewal date would be some time around the first …

I’ve noticed a few writers complaining about Courier New, the supposed “standard” typeface most common for manuscripts. Some say that they hate Courier New’s appearance and prefer Times New Roman instead. Others say Times is difficult to copyedit with because the letters are closer together and hard to wrap proofreader marks around.
I’m just curious what typeface those of you with manuscripts in the works prefer. If you don’t type your manuscript at all, there is a “Longhand” option as well.
I’ll let the poll run for a week or so and …

I recently saw a meme elsewhere in the blogosphere asking people to name what they considered to be the ten most important television series of all-time. The question that I read didn’t ask specifically for their ten favorites, just the ten they thought were the best.
(Sometimes we can acknowledge a show is a great show even if it isn’t our cup of tea.)
That got me thinking about this week’s “Sunday Seven” question.
But first, Jennifer of “Ramblings from off the top of my head” was first to play last week’s …

In response to the post over at Absolute Write that I mentioned in yesterday’s entry here comes this pearl of wisdom from James D. MacDonald:
When a reader tells you that there’s something wrong with your book, they’re usually right. When they tell you how to fix it, they’re usually wrong.
Nice.

If Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace, at more than 1400 pages, is a bit too daunting a task for your reading list, there is good news. The Guardian reports that publishers are creating new “reader-friendly” versions of the great classics as well as recent high-brow hits.
War and Peace is the first of several titles to get updated translations that should make the books easier to understand or even just get through. Tolstoy’s Russian novel has been retranslated by Anthony Briggs, a Birmingham University Russian professor who spent more than …