Happy Birthday To F. Scott Fitzgerald

Happy birthday to F. Scott Fitzgerald.

As Biography.com notes, the author of The Great Gatsby was born on this date in 1896.

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota. His first novel's success made him famous and let him marry the woman he loved, but he later descended into drinking and his wife had a mental breakdown. Following the unsuccessful Tender is the Night, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood and became a scriptwriter. He died of a heart attack in 1940, at age 44, his final novel only half completed.

You can read the rest of the piece and watch a short video on the life of Fitzgerald via the below link:

http://www.biography.com/people/f-scott-fitzgerald-9296261

Fitzgerald is one of my favorite writers and I enjoyed his novels, especially The Great Gatsby, and I also enjoy his short stories. I especially love his Pat Hobby short stories, which are about a hack Hollywood writer.

Mark Twain On Writing: 'Kill Your Adjectives'

Kate Kiefer at Forbes.com wrote a piece on the advice Mark Twain gave to writers.

Words like “really” and “very” are rarely useful. Twain famously said to “substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.” I think of him every time I type—and then delete—the word “very.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/katelee/2012/11/30/mark-twain-on-writing-kill-your-adjectives/

Hemingway's Book Idea Began On Seaplane Ramp

Nina Mertz at the Chicago Tribune reports Paul Hendrickson receiving her newspaper's Heartland Prize For Nonfiction for his fine book Hemingway's Boat.

My theory on book-writing," said author Paul Hendrickson, "is that we don't find our books — they find us."

In town this weekend to receive the 2012 Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Nonfiction for "Hemingway's Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost," Hendrickson discussed what inspired him to tackle the Ernest Hemingway legend from a slightly new angle — specifically, that of the author's beloved fishing boat Pilar, which played such an integral role in "Papa's" Cuban period.

It was a random encounter during a 1980 vacation getaway that planted the first seeds, Hendrickson said. He and his wife were on their way to the Bahamas. "We were on the seaplane ramp," he told the Tribune's Rick Kogan on Sunday at the Harold Washington Library (as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival), "and we saw this broad-shouldered man with a full beard who was a dead ringer for Hemingway. Obviously, Hemingway died in 1961, so it wasn't him. But I was pretty sure it was his kid brother, Leicester. He took the seat directly ahead of us on the plane, so I tapped him on the shoulder and said, 'You, sir, wouldn't happen to be …"

 

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-1112-humanities-hendrickson-20121111,0,3087068.story

You can also read an earlier post on Paul Hendrickson via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2011/10/on-hemingway-paul-hendrickson-and.html 

Actor Hal Holbrook To Be Honored At Mark Twain Museum

The Quincy Journal in Illinois reports that actor Hal Holbrook, who has portrayed author and humorist Mark Twain on stage for many years, will be honored at the Mark Twain museum.

Emmy and Tony winning actor Hal Holbrook will receive the Mark Twain Lifetime Achievement Award at 4 p.m. Nov. 18 at the Mark Twain Museum.

Holbrook is the first recipient of this award, which honors individuals who have furthered Twain's legacy in a significant way.

"What started out as a desperate move to make a living has become the engine of my life," Holbrook said in response to the award. "Mark Twain has taken me to every corner of America and shown us who we are, where we have failed, and what we could become. How could I ever ask for more than that?"

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://quincyjournal.com/hal-holbrook-to-be-honored-at-mark-twain-museum1352302170.html