Norm Benson

WordPress 2.7

I checked my blog this morning. WTF? All my posts since my upgrade to version 2.7 of Word Press have evaporated!?! Call out the hounds. Get Colombo. To the Batmobile, Alfred.

This Swedish Coffee Braid was a Christmas tradition in my family. Mom would make many batches, store them in the freezer — drying the hell out of the bread, necessitating coffee to simply return moisture to your mouth — and then pass loaves out to neighbors as presents. My mom learned this recipe from myContinue reading “Swedish Coffee Braid Bread”

Twilight Deconstructed

Okay, we’ve had our joke and poked fun at Stephenie Myer’s Twilight . Well, like the da Vinci Code, it works. Theories? Eve Porinchak over at The Disco Mermaids deconstructs Twilight. It’s all about tapping emotions, isn’t it?

Parodies Loosed

I found a link to a spoof of Twilight at Editorial Ass. It is hilarious. I forget how I came across this spoof of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with its mega-spoilers but it too is great (and teeming with text speak LOL). I have found a site for Shakespeare parodies, such as ScotsContinue reading “Parodies Loosed”

That novel you want to write

Grammar Girl, Mignon Fogarty, lists Scott Sigler’s plan for writing that novel you have in you. Here’s his five-step plan. Step 1: Write every day Step 2: Write a bad book first Step 3: Finish the bad book, then put it away for six months Step 4: Start writing your “good” book Step 5: AfterContinue reading “That novel you want to write”

Holiday Message from Roy Blount Jr.: Buy Books From Your Local Bookstore, Now

Roy Blount Jr’s post on the Authors Guild site: December 11, 2008. I’ve been talking to booksellers lately who report that times are hard. And local booksellers aren’t known for vast reserves of capital, so a serious dip in sales can be devastating. Booksellers don’t lose enough money, however, to receive congressional attention. A governmentContinue reading “Holiday Message from Roy Blount Jr.: Buy Books From Your Local Bookstore, Now”

Officer, Arrest That Rodent!

“Green campaigners called police after discovering an illegal logging site in a nature reserve…” Maybe those beavers could use Kindles instead to build their natural dam.

I May Not Know Physics but I know What I Like

According to the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS), Science Dance Contest (Taking science to the dance, and back again) a/k/a Dance Your PhD, “…the human body is an excellent medium for communicating science–perhaps not as data-rich as a peer-reviewed article, but far more exciting.” Markita Landry’s PhD thesis is titled “Single MoleculeContinue reading “I May Not Know Physics but I know What I Like”

A Contest for Writers

The grand prize super awesome winner of the SUFPCx2 will win their choice of a partial critique, query critique or 15 minute phone conversation…

AlphaSmart Keyboard and Battery LIfe

I got a question about my AlphaSmart 2000 the other day from a writer who owned “the older AlphaSmart Pro…” He didn’t like the action of the keys (he had to “really pound on them and half the time you have to hit them twice”) or that “every time you touch the shift key itContinue reading “AlphaSmart Keyboard and Battery LIfe”