Nancy Rudel

Author's posts

Quote of the week: July roundup

All books are either dreams or swords, You can cut, or you can drug, with words. Amy Lowell, 1874 – 1925 Life is very nice, but it lacks form. It’s the aim of art to give it some. Jean Anouilh, 1910 – 1987 Man’s greatest drive is not love or hate but to change another …

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Inspiring, creative, and lovely book dedications

Today while looking for examples to help a client phrase a dedication, I came across this lovely list of book dedications. Including many well-known writers and titles, it’s a pleasure to browse: 30 Awesome Book Dedications that Might Be Better Than the Actual Book by Chrissy Stockton

Quote of the week: June roundup

Readers are plentiful: thinkers are rare. Harriet Martineau, 1802 – 1876 In books we never find anything but ourselves. Strangely enough, that always gives us great pleasure, and we say the author is a genius. Thomas Mann, 1875 – 1955 The fundamental difference between the mystery story and the ghost story is the fact that …

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Pen jibes and stinging ink

Do writers devise the best insults? Hephzibah Anderson for BBC Culture looks at some of the most biting words writers aim at each other: Who was called “A great cow full of ink”?

Quote of the week: May roundup

One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper patterns at the right moment. Hart Crane 1899-1932 A word is a bud attempting to become a twig. How can one not dream while writing? It is the pen which dreams. The blank page gives …

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Ten better ways to say: lucky

fortunate blessed charmed auspicious favored golden holding aces providential felicitious sitting pretty

Quote of the week: April roundup

The only way to do all the things you’d like to do is to read. Tom Clancy, 1947-2013 One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper patterns at the right moment. Hart Crane, 1899-1932 Words strain, Crack and sometimes break, under the burden, …

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Quote of the week: March roundup

If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales. Albert Einstein But I will say that living in Ireland has changed the cadence and fullness of speech, since the Irish love words and use as many of them in …

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Quote of the week: February roundup

The best style of writing, as well as the most forcible, is the plainest. Horace Greeley, 1811-1872 It is much simpler to buy books than to read them and easier to read them than to absorb their contents. William Osler, 1849-1919 Thank God for books as an alternative to conversation. W. H. Auden, 1907-1973 Success …

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Ten better ways to say: tired

Keep awake long enough to consider these options. (The sixth was completely new to me.) bleary prostrate nodding tapped out enervated logy (or loggy) bushed drowsy torpid bone-weary