EXPLORING THE UNFATHOMABLE HEART I suspect I was drawn to be a writer to explore the unfathomable complexities and contradictions of every human being, beginning with myself. Plato wrote that good men

WHY DO WRITERS WRITE? Tolstoy answered this question in a passage worth reading over and over: The aims of art are not to resolve a question irrefutably, but to compel one to love life in all its

Thomas Carlyle was the author of a history of the French Revolution. He completed the first volume and sent it to a pal to read, the philosopher John Stuart Mill. Mill's maid mistook it for trash and used

With a nod to the Book of Ecclesiastes. When I look in a glass this I see, Years like a river rush past, My whole world wilting like grass. If you ask me life's a farce, All is vanity. I tell you youngsters

Claudian was the last great Latin poet. He died aged 34 in 404. Vivunt in Venerem frondes Leaves live only for love and all through lofty groves each happy tree is under love’s spell. To pledge their union

The Church chants Eternal Rest, Requiem Aeternam, over the dead. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and on them shine eternal light. Do you wonder why, Wonder why I cry When earth's loveliest things all

If you haven’t heard it before, let me introduce you to the shortest and perhaps most satisfying short story ever written. It’s often attributed to Ernest Hemingway. Peter Miller, a literary agent, said

THE ART OF THE SHORT STORY by NEIL BOYD I am old now but in my final years I’d like to pass on to prospective authors, young and old, a few things I’ve learned in a lifetime of writing. When I was young,

I’d like to tell you the story of how I became a best-selling author. I didn’t plan it. Didn’t expect it. It came out of the blue, courtesy of a friend, and it changed my life completely. The story begins