Dec 14, 2020 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Past Notes
John le Carré Obituary in the Guardian October 19, 1931 — December 12, 2020 David John Moore Cornwell began writing novels about espionage and spies when he was working as a full-time intelligence agent for the British foreign service MI6 – a group whose very...
Dec 8, 2020 | Current Ned Note, Horror, On Books, On Writing, Past Notes
The holiday season sees a million variations on Charles Dickens’s classic A Christmas Carol, yet this marvelous supernatural tale all too often overshadows the ghostly echoes that permeate Dickens’s entire oeuvre. In John Irving’s book of personal essays, Saving...
Nov 6, 2020 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Past Notes
Today, November 6, is the birthday of Oregon writer Brian Doyle. I’ve had the great pleasure of getting to know the writing of Brian Doyle this past year. I was introduced to his work by the wonderful and amazing Kirstin McAuley at the Oregon Episcopal...
Nov 2, 2020 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Past Notes, Poetry
Invictus was the favorite poem of both American Civil Rights firebrand and revered Senator John Lewis, as well as Nelson Mandela, the long-imprisoned and finally triumphant President of South Africa. It seems appropriate on this date to re-read this poem. BY WILLIAM...
Oct 30, 2020 | Current Ned Note, On Writing, Past Notes, Poetry
A poem for this moment in our lives… (October 30, 2020) BY MAGGIE SMITH Life is short, though I keep this from my children. Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways, a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways I’ll keep from...
Oct 16, 2020 | Current Ned Note, Horror, On Writing, Past Notes
I found a thread on Reddit that asked this question: “What is the best horror story you can come up with in two sentences?” I posted the best ones I found, as well as one more scary tale I created on my own. See if you can figure out which one is mine! With Halloween...
