No, this isn’t about the Peter Straub novel I’m reading…this is a real ghost story that happened to me. I’ve been meaning to tell this tale for quite a while, but I just never got around to it. It seems that Halloween would be the perfect time to make the time, so here goes.
When I was very young, my paternal grandmother — who just passed away recently — married a man I’ll call Jay. He was a giant, at least to someone who was only four …

On the day before Halloween, there’s no way I couldn’t make the Sunday Seven feature the famous day in some way.
So now that I have given you a hint about the topic this week, I will now make reference to the journal writer who put the fear in all of her colleagues by being first to answer last week’s Sunday Seven question about hurricane names: congratulations to Dawn of “Endless Laundry List of Things Undone!”
It’s time to put down that halloween candy — remember, it’s for the kids, not …

Time to take a break from the Vivi vote counting to post the Saturday Six. Yes, I know there was no Tuesday Two this week, but I’ll post a double edition this coming Tuesday for that one.
Before the questions…
Wait a second…”Bonanza” is on. Let me go take care of that.
All right, I’m back. Don’t know why, but I hate westerns. Just can’t deal with them. I love “Bonanza’s” theme song, which has to be one of the greatest in TV history…but once that’s over, it’s …

“Are you going to stand up?” the bus driver asked.
“No,” Parks answered.
“Well, by God, I’m going to have you arrested,” the driver said.
“You may do that,” Parks responded.

It was a moment that changed history. It began on a Montgomery, Alabama bus when 42-year-old Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man as the laws at the time required. Parks died Monday at age 92.
She took a stand by refusing to get up, and in doing so, became the mother of the civil rights movement …

I got this in an email from a friend of mine and I thought you might find it interesting.
This is a real test given by the Human Relations Dept. at many of the major corporations today, and, assuming the email is accurate, the test apparently was passed along by Dr. Phil on an episode of Oprah.
It helps employers get better insight concerning their employees and prospective employees. It’s only 10 simple questions, so .. grab a pencil and paper to keep track of your letter answers.
1. When do you …

I am reminded by Wil of “The Daily Snooze” that National Novel Writing Month – “NaNoWriMo” is the actual abbreviation — is coming in November. It’s that masochistic practice in which one sits down with blank paper on November 1st and theoretically produces a novel by November 30th.
Fortunately for me, November sweeps takes precedence, so I won’t be able to join in the madcap hilarity. Not that I’m complaining, you understand. I have yet to master the “just get the words on the page and worry about the details later” …

No, says Miss Snark, the literary agent at her blog of the same title:
Blogging sucks up time like a hoover. None of my novelists blog unless they are on the road. I asked. They’re busy writing their novels, or writing to me, or writing to their fans. Mostly they’re writing.
Blogs definitely eat away at your time. Most of my time online isn’t spent writing in my blog so much as reading other people’s. I’ll leave comments some of the time, not all. But then someone will …

I’ve made some changes in the look of “A Stop At Willoughby.” If you’re reading this by way of an RSS reader like “Bloglines,” you wouldn’t have known had I not mentioned it, so I thought I’d make note of the difference.
The font is now black on gray instead of the former white on black. Some people find that white on black is hard to read. For me, because I am in front of computer screens all the time, black on white is actually a little easier to read because …

I’m not a sports fan.
But I’m going to step into normally unexplored territory here at “Patrick’s Place” on the subject of a new dress code policy from NBA (that’s basketball, of course) Commissioner David Stern has for his players when they are engaged in team or league business.
As reported by USA Today, Stern’s stern policy:
• Bans sleeveless shirts, jerseys, T-shirts, sneakers, shorts, headgear, sunglasses indoors and “bling,” including chains, pendants or medallions worn over clothes.
• Requires players to wear “dress” shirts (either collared or turtleneck), shoes, slacks or jeans.
• Requires …

Gimmie an alpha! Yep, 2005 has set a new record with the number of named storms: for the first time, we’ve run out of names and had to go to the backup plan: the use of the Greek alphabet.
Hurricane have been named since 1953, when forecasters decided that referring to them by a woman’s name would be easier than referring to them by satellite coordinates. In 1979, it was decided that the storms would alternate between male and female names.
There are six lists of names that …

The first few questions involve a recent news report reported by John Scalzi in “By the Way.” If the story itself didn’t have you double checking the products in your house, maybe these questions will.
But before the questions, it’s time to recognize the first person to play last week. According to the rules, to be considered the first to play, you must either leave the link to the specific entry in which you answered the questions, or you must answer them in the comment. That means that …

From Jess:
Writer’s Weekly Question #2: Why do you write? Is it because you want attention, or is there some other reason you are driven to do this? What draws you to this craft?
I think all writers write because they want attention at some level. Some crave it far more than others. In terms of instant gratification, blogs are much better than traditional writing, anyway.
And some of the biggest writers don’t seem to blog at all, because they’re too busy working on their next novel. Sometimes I think those of …