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Today's quote is, of course, from the Edgar Allen Poe poem "The Raven".

On first drafts

Bernard Malamud said that the first draft "is the most uncertain-- where you need guts, the ability to accept the imperfect until it is better."

On revision

Well, in a way. I just finished reading A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett. And somewhere back ( Read more... )

It being Sunday, 'tis time for some quoteskimming. Without further ado . . .

On being a "famous author":

"[F]amousness is probably about as useful for an author as a large, well-appointed hiking backpack would be for a prima ballerina. Honest." ~Neil Gaiman.

On author appearances

When the books were first published, the publisher asked me a ( Read more... )

A parent (a former Black Panther, no less) has challenged the use of Huckleberry Finn as part of the curriculum at St. Louis Park High School in Minnesota. His daughter was told she didn't have to read it, and was permitted to read The Secret Life of Bees instead. Mr. Gilbert's objection to Huck Finn is, of course, to the word that must not be ( Read more... )