Chris Nicholson's Writing Weblog
October 01, 2008 • Wednesday
According to Horace Engdahl — permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, which determines the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature — the United States is "too isolated" and "too insular" to produce world-class writers.
His premise might hold some truth, but his conclusion is drawing plenty of criticism from American literary experts.
See the Associated Press' article "Nobel literature head: US too insular to compete."
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September 30, 2008 • Tuesday
Still busy here. US Open is over, have been covering golf, wrapping the book, writing for magazines, and looking forward to some work in Cape Cod and Maine this fall.
More soon.
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August 31, 2008 • Sunday
It's still been busy, busy, busy here. In addition to the final phases of the book project, I'm now covering the US Open tennis tournament in New York City.
More soon ...
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July 07, 2008 • Monday
The dictionary has added a new batch of words. See CNN.com's "Dictionary adds new batch of words."
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June 25, 2008 • Wednesday
A group of researchers has used celestial information referenced in Homer's Odyssey to determine the exact date King Odysseus returned home from the Trojan War and killed a group that had been trying to overthrow him during his absence.
For more, see the Associated Press' article "Date set for Odysseus' return from Trojan War."
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June 03, 2008 • Tuesday
A book I recently edited, "Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games" by Jerry and Tom Caraccioli, received a favorable review today from the Wall Street Journal.
See "The Olympians Left Behind."
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May 14, 2008 • Wednesday
Here's an interesting piece from The Village Voice: "Our Favorite Writers Pick Their Favorite Obscure Books."
Pretty self-explanatory, as any good headline should be; so I'll stop here.
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May 08, 2008 • Thursday
Today New Chapter Press releases a book I edited, "Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games," by Jerry and Tom Caraccioli, with a forward by former U.S. Vice President Walter F. Mondale.
The book details not only the history and politics of the boycott, but profiles 18 of the athletes whose lives were changed. I'll admit I'm biased, but I can honestly say the book is a fascinating read. It was a pleasure to work on.
Two useful links: the press release; the book's Barnes & Noble page.
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May 06, 2008 • Tuesday
As a veteran of many road trips (3 cross-U.S., 1 cross-Australia, and many other partials), I have to say that I'm a fan of this story:
"3 Men Trying To Drive 48 States In 120 Hours."
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April 29, 2008 • Tuesday
The Onion reports: "Commas, Turning Up, Everywhere."
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April 16, 2008 • Wednesday
A feature I wrote appears in the Spring 2008 issue of the magazine Country Club Quarterly.
"Graduating to the Pros" covers the early career of tennis player John Isner, who's played himself into the ATP Tour's Top 100 in less than a year.
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March 25, 2008 • Tuesday
CNN.com ran an article today about universities that offer literature courses covering the Harry Potter septet. See "Pottermania lives on in college classrooms."
For the record, the first I heard of this phenomenon was when my friend Roberta Staples, a tenured professor, offered a course in the Harry Potter texts at Sacred Heart University several years ago, when there were only five books.
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March 19, 2008 • Wednesday
Dick Durrell, the founding publisher of People magazine and an early mentor of mine, passed away last week at the age of 82.
In college I signed up for "Magazine Publication and Related Communications," a course Dick taught every several semesters during his retirement years. I didn't even know who he was, let alone how profound an impact he'd have on me merely by asking and respecting my opinions. When I became editor of the university newspaper, he wrote me a congratulatory note, and even ordered a subscription. Later he stayed in touch with letters and lunches, and was my ringer resume reference.
I last saw Dick in 2002, the first time he let me pay for lunch; it was my thank-you for the guidance he'd given me.
For more information about Dick and his passing, see his obituaries in the New York Times and the Connecticut Post.
He was a good man, whose guidance leaves me eternally grateful.
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March 01, 2008 • Saturday
In my personal war against cliche, I always love finding an ally. The humor publication The Onion is one of my most formidable.
Their latest salvo is the article "Idiom Shortage Leaves Nation All Sewed Up In Horse Pies."
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February 28, 2008 • Thursday
Things here are busy, in a good way.
Today I'm wrapping up a corporate publishing project, and then finishing up some work on my website.
Tomorrow I'll be writing two small articles, one for a magazine, the other for a university.
And then on Monday I'll begin my next big project, editing another book. This one is about John Lennon.
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February 25, 2008 • Monday
For an amusing look at the freelance writing "process," see this blog post by "Dilbert" creator Scott Adams: "How to Make a Comic Strip." Though about comics, it's pretty representative of the freelance life.
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February 19, 2008 • Tuesday
Mike Luongo, a good friend of mine since high school, was in the news today. Mike is preparing to compete in the national Transplant Games for the second time since receiving his new kidney in 2003.
See the Norwich Bulletin article "Norwich man to participate in Transplant Games."
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February 15, 2008 • Friday
This week I finished reading Bill Bryson's new book, "Shakespeare: The World as Stage."
I didn't (and don't) have any strong interest in William Shakespeare. But Bryson is probably my favorite contemporary writer, so I'll read pretty much anything he writes; I enjoy his style, and I've come trust that he'll make any topic interesting to me.
As he did with Will.
In reading the book, I was mostly fascinated with how little we actually know of our language's finest writer. I'm amazed at how much information can be lost in just 400 years. I also found interesting the sections about how words and writing and theatre have changed in four centuries, and at how many words Shakespeare used for the first time in written English — or that he altogether coined.
It's a good book, worth the gift card I spent on it.
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February 12, 2008 • Tuesday
Some historic photographic negatives have been found after a long, long time lost. In fact, for years they've been believed destroyed.
The negatives belonged to Robert Capa, considered by many to be the father of war photography as we know it. At the very least, he did more for the genre than anyone since Matthew Brady during the U.S. Civil War.
The missing negatives were found in a suitcase in Mexico. Among the images are some priceless documentations of the Spanish Civil War.
So why am I mentioning the find here? Because among the frames found are photographs of American novelist Ernest Hemingway and Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca.
To learn more, see the New York Times article "The Capa Cache" (what a great headline). (Unfortunately the Times website requires registration to view articles. If you'd rather not bother, see CNN.com's coverage instead: "Lost negatives may shed new light on famed photographer." But the former is a more comprehensive piece.)
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February 11, 2008 • Monday
It's been a while. As happens sometimes, when I'm busy working, the blog is one of the first activities to fall wayside.
What's kept me so busy in what is traditionally my slowest time of year? Editing.
Specifically, I edited the book "Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games" by Jerry and Tom Caraccioli, to be released by New Chapter Press on May 1.
It was a great project to work on, and a very interesting book that delves not just into the politics of the boycott, but also into the lives of the athletes who were effected.
Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble are taking pre-orders.
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