News and Notices from the Writing Trenches #38…

[Note: Lots of news today…and comments on that news…for both readers and writers. Enjoy!]

#216: Books as Christmas gifts. I’m not adverse to using the word Christmas and gifts in the same sentence. Sure, Black Friday and Cyber Monday show that the holidays are becoming more commercial. What isn’t? For me, there’s little difference between tee shirts with the faces of Santa Claus, Christ, the Buddha, or Che Guevara—as Yoda would say, “Still commercial they are.”

However, reading is an educationa...