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Newsletter
for:
Friday,
21 December, 2007:
- Steve's
Thieving History
- Features
Seminars
- Need
Your Help with Q&A
- Your
Writing Successes
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NOTE:
Just getting back to this newsletter after a several-month
hiatus. The essay below happened to be already loaded, so
I'll run with it. But more news this time next week.
RANT-'o-THE-WEEK:
Just
call me Et for short. My interesting Spam-'o-the-Week—not,
as a rule, a category with too many entries—had the subject
line
of "Hey
Etienne Morrill". I looked at that and had to admire the sophistication
of a system that could translate "Stephen""
to the French version, "Etienne".
"Morrill"
is, in fact, orignally French. My father, the first on his
side of my family to be born in the U.S., was from Maine and
his father was from Prince Edward Island, Canada. Maine is
full of Morrills and they all originated in the Canadian maritimes,
descendents of French-Canadians. Those "canucks" who
resettled in what was then French-owned Louisiana
are today
called "cajuns".
My
father got the geneology bug later in life and researched the
Morrill family tree. Which, it turned out, had borne bitter
fruit. He traced his lineage back to the first Morrill in the
New World. That worthy, it seems, had been a horse thief back
home and was given a typical punishment of the day. Forced
to choose
between "the jails or the ships" he adventurously
chose the ships. Remember, in the 1600s, the ships were, at
best, a life
sentence—you would never return to Europe—and,
at worst, a death sentence—the harsh Canadian frontier
was no springtime in Lorraine.
At
any rate, that ended the genology hobby. My father was so incensed at having
had a horse thief in his distant past that he lost heart in
the project. He settled for having someone "research" the Morrill
family crest and in due course received one he used until his
death. He had made a large gold signet ring for himself and
a smaller silver version for his teenage son (moi), as well
as matching blue blazers with the crest on the handkerchief
pockets.
It
says something, I suppose, that I could wear that blazer
at 18 years of age and still had it—and could wear
it—at 35 or 40. But eventually I gave up on it,
cool as it was to look like a yachtsman in my white pants
and blue blazer, with my family crest emblazoned thereupon.
I donated the coat to the Salvation Army and, I assume,
some street person wore it proudly thereafter. I hope
it earned him better handouts.
The
silver ring vanished long ago—I don't wear jewelry—but
I know the gold ring is around the hosue someplace, likely
in the boxes of stuff I inherited when my mother died
a few years ago. I know I remember seeing it. It never
fit me, still would not, as my father had fat fingers.
He had fat everything and I am resisting looking like
him and not doing so well. The day may come when the
ring will fit.
There
was a card, used as a bookmark, in a copy of a book my
father wrote, and that's where I got the crest shown
to the right. But, truth be told, anyone can pay a service
to have a family crest made up. Doesn't really mean all
that much. |
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FEATURED
COURSES:
This week, it being the holidays and everyone being busy,
let's feature our one-shot seminars. Easy. Quick. Fun.
Book
Reviews That Rock
(The
1-week seminar. Scroll down for the full course.)
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Finding
Books To Review And Places To Sell Them
When
you read a book, you always have an opinion about it,
don’t you? Turn that opinion into cash by writing
book reviews! How do you get books to review and where
are the best places to peddle your freelance reviews
after you’ve written them? As part of the unique
KISS series (Keep It Short, Sweetie!), this one-session
seminar will whet your reading—and writing—appetite
and answer some basic questions about the world of
book reviewing.
|
Sandra
Louden |
1
Week |
$36 |
Cooking
up a Cookbook
(A
1-week seminar) |
Have
you walked by the bookstore shelves loaded with cookbooks
and said, “I could write one.”? Do you have
numerous old-world recipes you’d like to pass along
to family members? Maybe you have quick fix entrees that
would be great for bachelors, working moms or college kids?
Whatever type of cookbook you’d like to write, this
crash course guides you through the writing process with
step-by-step instructions and provides tips for publishing
it, too. So, if you’re thinking about the mound of
recipes in your kitchen, sign up for this one-day seminar
today because yes, you can write a cookbook. |
Mary
Jo Rulnick |
1
Week |
$36 |
Quizzes
That Sizzle
(The
1-week seminar. Scroll down for the full course.)
|
No,
we’re not talking about boring school tests or those
nasty “pop quizzes” we all hated. These are
the quizzes in magazines and in the Sunday section of your
newspaper most of us can’t resist taking. They are
fast to write—and fun to take. The two main types
of quizzes – lifestyle and “fast factual” will
be covered. |
Sandra
Louden |
1
Week |
$36 |
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SCHOOL
NEWS: I have a huge favor to ask of all of you.
As web editor for the American Society of Journalists & Authors
(ASJA) I have been asked to create, on their web
site, a
Q&A column intended for beginning to middle-career writers.
I
have some experts lined up, all a-twitter with expectation,
to answer the questions. But I have no questions yet.
Your
mission, should you choose to accept: Send me one or more (or
lots of) questions about writing. The questions may be on any
subject or genre, so long as they are writing-related. Writing-career-related
is even better, as ASJA is for career writers and they tend
to think along those lines.
But ANYTHING writing related is fine.
The
people who asked me to update the web site expect a fresh question
twice per month but for starters I'll likely do one per week.
Eventually, the questions do tend to repeat themselves and
that's fine too. Old lessons are just as good as new lessons
if they
are
new to you. I
will use your first name only and no e-mail or other identifier,
though I will personally notify you when your question is up
on the site with an answer. I may also use some of those questions
here or in a blog I am thinking of starting, mostly so I can
answer them faster (But if answered here, they still remain
in the queue for the ASJA web site.) Send
those to me at: Director@WritersCollege.com
And
thanks for the help. |
