From Charley‘s “Courage:”
You Are 56% Cynical

Yes, you are cynical, but more than anything, you’re a realist.You see what’s screwed up in the world,
but you also take time to remember what’s right.
How Cynical Are You?
Yes, I’m a cynic by nature. I’m a little surprised that I only scored as 56%. But there is a nice thing about being cynical: if you make a concerted effort to remain open-minded, expecting the worst in people makes it that much easier to recognize and appreciate the best in people when it …

I tried to watch an HBO documentary, Baghdad ER, last night. I tried. If you have a weak stomach or have trouble dealing with the sight of blood, you’ll want to skip that program…and the rest of this entry.
The program takes viewers inside the 86th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq, where wounded soldiers are treated. Remember M*A*S*H? As much as I’d love to tell you that early on, there’s a Hawkeye playing practical jokes and the worst we see is an occasional surgical gown splattered with …

“They summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and virtue.”
- General James A. Garfield,
at the first national Memorial Day Observance, 1866.

We can’t even agree on Memorial Day.
When the holiday was officially introduced in 1866*, it was created as a way to honor Union soldiers in a way similar to observances that already existed in the former Confederate states. By 1868, it moved to a …

This is the memorial erected in memory of Civil War soldiers at Hollywood Cemetary in Richmond. It stands 90 feet high and was build in 1869 to honor more than 18,000 Confederate soldiers who were lost. Union soldiers are also buried here.
Engraved in a stone on the side pictured are the words, “Numini et Patriae Asto,” which, translated, means “They stood for God and their country,” a poignant postscript to the defeat they gave their lives to prevent.

Most Sunday newspapers contain a large real estate listing. You might want to have this close by when you tackle this week’s question.
But first, Antonette, of “Jottings From Jersey,” was first to answer last week’s question about blogging pet peeves. Congratulations, Antonette!
On to the newest challenge!
THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:
Consider your “Dream House.” Now name seven features, either of the house or the lot itself, that would be required for it to really be your “Dream House.”

Either answer the question in a comment or answer it in your …

I’ve been tagged by Carly of “Ellipsis…Suddenly Carly” to list “Ten Things that Make Me Say, ‘Life is Good.’”
Here goes.
1. Autumn – I love the colors and the mood of fall.
2. Completing a Piece of Writing – But only if I’m happy with the end result. Otherwise, I go back and rewrite until I am.
3. Getting a Compliment on My Writing – Believe it not, it sometimes happens. This also includes my “real world” writing as well.
4. Common Courtesy – Little things, like when you greet someone by …

According to a post over at the Shocklines forum, Stephen King has named his pick for best outright Horror Novelist: Bentley Little. According to the post, King mentions Little’s The Store and Dispatch as novels not to be missed in a column in the current edition of Entertainment Weekly.
I’ve read The Store and I enjoyed it. Anyone who hates those mega-retailers probably would get a kick out of it as well. I haven’t read Dispatch, yet, but it’s in the book pile.
I’m not sure I’d call …

Andrea of “Unhinged” wrote a post about the pitfalls waiting for those who complain about their job and co-workers online. We’ve all been tempted to name names as we complain about the place we work at one point. Doing so can land you in a world of trouble, and most of the people who make the biggest point about not giving a damn about the potential dangers only do so until they fall victim to those dangers; then those same people shout to the heavens about how unfair …

Lulu.com, a web-based print-on-demand publisher, has a system designed to determine whether the title of your novel will score with readers.
I’ll give you a moment to let this oddball idea sink in.
The Titlescorer was designed, according to the Lulu site, after the study of more than 700 novels over a 50-year span. It reportedly could predict success of a book based on title alone about 70% of the time. Fortunately, for the more inexperienced writers out there who might be tempted to take the test’s findings to heart, …

So I had my calendar a bit off last week. Though Sweeps did, in fact, end this past Wednesday, Katie Couric’s departure from “Today” happens this coming Wednesday. Will you be watching? (No, that’s not one of the six questions!)
But before the questions, it’s time to recognize last week’s “first to play,” who turned out to be Cat of “Sweet Memes! Congratulations, Cat!
Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your …

I had lunch with a friend of mine, after which I walked down to a Starbucks for a cup of coffee. If you’ve never been to Starbucks, you might be unaware that printed on the cups is a quotation by someone who may or may not be famous. This feature is called, “The Way I See It.”
On my cup is #92, a quotation by Dr. Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life. The first few lines:
You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned …

ThrillerFest, a convention created by the International Thriller Writers, Inc., is coming to Phoenix in late June. Click the link for specific details.
Yes, I’d love to attend. No, I can’t make it this year. If it were closer, maybe.
But I definitely like the idea of a convention that focuses specifically on thrillers. One problem with the “horror” genre is that horror always ends up grouped under the umbrella title “speculative fiction,” which, of course, it is. But there are horror writers who don’t write fantasy …