National Novel Writing Month

Gimbling in the Wabe – What Michael Phelps and I Have in Common

Well, the honest answer to “what Michael Phelps and I have in common” is, practically nothing. He’s a young, strong, elite athlete with a whole slew of resources at his disposal. I’m a dumpy, almost-past-middle-aged woman with a teeny-tiny safety net that I was able to cobble together over my […]

Gimbling in the Wabe – Words, Words, Words

Polonius: What do you read, my lord? Hamlet: Words, words, words. ~William Shakespeare Although it can certainly be argued to the contrary, it seems that humans are the only creatures who use spoken language as opposed to creatures that “merely” communicate. And although human language has existed for ages, written language has been […]

Gimbling in the Wabe – My Personal Literary Highlights of 2015

It’s that time of year – when everyone comes out with an end-of-the-year “best of” list. Maybe I’m more sensitive to them now, or perhaps it’s because I’ve added so many literary and publishing sites to my social media feeds, but this December seems to be absolutely bursting with […]

Birthdays

On this day, May 17, in 1939, Gary Paulsen was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The author of numerous YA coming of age/wilderness tales (Hatchet, Escape from Fire Mountain, Dogsong) didn’t meet his own father, a career military officer, until he and his mother moved to the Philippines when he was seven years old (they returned to the US two years later). At 14 he ran away to join the carnival to escape his alcoholic parents; he struggled himself with alcoholism but simplified his life to keep his demons at bay. In 1983, at age 44, he and his team of dogs ran the 1,150 mile Iditarod Sled Dog Race in Alaska which he wrote about in the gripping Winterdance; he later had to abandon the sport due to heart issues. Today, he turns 82.

Birthdays

On this day, December 3, in 1857, Joseph Conrad was born in Berdichev, Imperial Russia (modern
Ukraine, then a part of Poland). While he settled in England and wrote in English, he always considered himself a Pole. Heart of Darkness, one of the most famous of his 20 novels (which explores colonialism and the attitudes regarding what constitutes a barbarian versus civilized society) is considered one of the best English novels of the 20th century, as is his novel Lord Jim, which chronicles a crew’s abandonment of its disabled ship. Conrad died in England in 1924 at age 66.