The Writer. July 07.

The following ideas are from The Writer magazine, July 2007.

Literature..... Classics..... "Our classics are classics partly because the characters are complex, not easily dismissed, not redeemable." Mary Troy. Wrt (Jul. 07), 5.

Writing..... Writer's block..... Elfreida Abbe, editor of The Writer: Here's a different way to start writing--start anywhere in your article in which you are interested, not the beginning. She cites an article in the July 2007 issue of The Writer by Meredith Sue Willis. Wrt (Jul. 07), 6.

Writing..... Publishing..... In a letter to the editor, reader of The Writer thanks the editor for not breaking articles and sending them to some place at the back of the magazine. Keeps them all in one place. [I might add, the articles are also mercifully short, concise and clear. RayS.] Sally Chetwynd. Letters to Editor. Wrt (Jul. 07), 7.

Literature..... Hemingway..... "Hemingway's fictional aging boxers and over-the-hill toreadors, trying mightily to hold on against time and younger rivals, are central to his mystique as is his trademark spare prose style." C Leddy. Wrt (Jul. 07). 8.

Writing..... Publishing..... "The beginner [writer] often persuades himself that a rejection means that the editor does not know his job, or that the manuscript is too good for the magazine." Alice M. Horn. Wrt. (Jul. 1937). Quoted in Wrt (Jul. 07), 9.

Writing..... Internet..... Check out "Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing" at http://grammar.QDnow.com.

Writing..... Revising and Editing..... H.G. Wells: "No passion on earth, neither love or hate, is equal to the passion to alter someone else's draft." Quoted in Wrt (Jul. 07), 12.

Literature..... Frankenstein..... "Dr. Frankenstein's approach was certainly original: he took an assortment of body parts, stitched them together, zapped the piecemeal cadaver with voltage--and presto! a monster was born.... We see him not so much as a monster but as a misunderstood creature, an outcast among men, who suffers and therefore inflicts suffering. Frankenstein's monster has endured because in a strange way, we sort of feel for the guy." E. Goudge. Wrt. (Jul. 07), 13.