What constitutes a Spoiler: A Philosophical Dialogue It’s Caturday, and Big Cat and Little Cat have been discussing spoilers while they’re waiting for Middle Cat to get back from that spa with the new hair-barfing cleanse. And what they’re discussing, of course, is spoilers. It all started when Little Cat spoiled a scene in The…
Some people read books for pleasure. Some for research. Some as a way of playing with children. Some a bit of all three. But many writers will read books that inspire them in their writing–whether they’re writing fanfic or not. Big Cat likes to read Shakespeare even when he’s writing short stories because those long…
Adam Writes: The Fragility of Mozart I’ve been playing that one Mozart piano sonata every young pianist learns when they take formal lessons (Sonata #16 in C major, K.545). Specifically the middle movement. I often have this problem with Mozart (more, I think, than other composers) where most of a piece is… fine. And then…
This won’t be one of my more structured pieces. Let’s call it language pet peeves, but instead of my language pet-peeves, it’ll be YOUR pet-peeves that I, in turn, am peeved by. If you need a minute to reread that sentence, I’ll wait. Let’s dive into it, because there are some fun ones. Peeve the…
A Rejection Letter of My Very Own It seems there’s a theme going on right now at 2 Rules of Writing. Adam wrote about rejection letters last week. Erik Cheung also wrote about rejection letters last week. And now it’s my turn. Last week I got a rejection letter. I was expecting it, although strangely…
Frob and Widget are enjoying the mild Florida weather. All the moreso because they know that people elsewhere in the northern hemisphere are freezing their tails off. It’s the little things, after all, that give spice to this thing we call life. Just like when they hunt birds. They don’t necessarily want to catch them…
If you want to contribute to our Watch/Listen/Read, please do not hesitate to reach out! Adam Writes: I got to read children’s stories to my nephew this week. The author is a favorite from when I was a kid: James Stevenson’s Grandpa and Wainey series. I remember being delighted by these books some thirty years…
“Don’t let the words get to you”, I said to myself, reluctantly flipping open the reviewers’ comments one more time after letting them settle for months. It my first grant proposal as research staff at my university. What’s unpleasant always comes first, raising a big flag and waving it at you. You can feel the…
Defeating Writer’s Block by Writing about it I’d been thinking a lot about what I wanted to write for today. I’d made a few attempts at things to write, but as I’ve faced many times in the last few months, and written about a few times, I’ve had trouble coming up with ideas. And trouble…
There are a lot of reasons for us to think about our heros and those who inspire us right now. The felines have been lionizing Jorts lately, and want to remind all creatures to lend a hand and not be cat-butterers. Frob tells us that he admires Hobbes–his beautiful orange coat and his bravery make…