Got an e-mail tonight from my first editor, Hugh Iglarsh. Subject line, "God, what a verb." We haven't spoken in months. Here's the whole text of the e-mail:
I just like this sentence:
"Lockhorn had finished his drink very fast, and he got up and walked to the bar. Price's eyebrows went up as he heard the heavy slug of bourbon chortle into the glass."
—James Thurber, "The Interview"
Actually, all of Thurber's sentences are damnably good—"Price, who had jumped to his feet, stood bowing and grinning at his hostess. She barely touched him with her smile."
So how are things? Lunch sometime?
And as I'm thinking that one of the benefits to being a writer is you have writers for friends … I stumble on this, from last night's pool report, on Obama:
The Obamas left the Pritzker home at 8:53 p.m. Michelle Obama
proceeded directly to the SUV while the president-elect walked over and
shook hands with a dozen mostly teen or younger fans who had gathered
outside to cheer him on.
Obama carried a hard-cover book on Abraham Lincoln. Both Obamas wore winter coats. …
The Lincoln book was Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer, by Fred Kaplan.
A writer friend in the White House. Who ever could have imagined?
My writing friends are by far the most interesting people I know.
The other cool thing about most writers is that they are interested in and care about other people. Plus you need to be a good listener to be a truly good writer.
Both of these qualities will make for a great Presidency and an exciting four years.
Fred Kaplan will join me at 5 PM New York Time Monday December 22 on News Talk Online on Paltalk.com to discuss his book and the comparisons being made between Lincoln and Obama.
To talk to him please go to http://www.garybaumgarten.com and click on the Join The Show link.
Thanks,