“Don’t quote me on this . . . “
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“Don’t quote me on this . . . “

I was startled to read this quote in The Athletic (part of the New York Times) from a federal judge overseeing an antitrust case regarding the NCAA and college sports conferences: [U.S. District Court Judge Claudia] Wilken raised several questions related to the objections, but she also expressed optimism for eventual approval if those questions…

Chaotic balance; grammar movie; LibGen ripoff: Newsletter 26 March 2025
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Chaotic balance; grammar movie; LibGen ripoff: Newsletter 26 March 2025

Newsletter 87. While life is an unending battle against chaos, chaos is where all creativity comes from. Plus, Meta rips off every author on the planet, AI “insights” are anything but, three people to follow and three books to read. Chaos in perspective Do you love chaos? Of course not. No one wants to be…

Stranger than fiction

Stranger than fiction

Nonfiction writers need to tell the truth in a captivating way. Fiction writers just need to be captivating. At first glance, it seems like there are more constraints on nonfiction. After all, fiction writers can just “make stuff up,” while nonfiction writers are constrained by what actually happened. There are actually more constraints on fiction…

How did AI become an inescapable virus in my writing tools?

How did AI become an inescapable virus in my writing tools?

I, like every other Microsoft Word user, started a document on January 16 only to find a strange icon cluttering up my word processor screen. This is Microsoft Copilot, which exists to provide me with artificial intelligence help in writing documents. I’ve been a professional writer since 1982 and am making my current living as…

A few moments with the late, great “Ike” Willams
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A few moments with the late, great “Ike” Willams

John Taylor “Ike” Williams was my agent and publishing lawyer. He died on December 26, 2024 at the age of 86. Ike was a commanding presence at his literary agency, Kneerim & Williams, and law firm, Sennott & Williams. Six-foot-six and good-looking, he had a unique combination of unshakable Boston Brahmin confidence and good humor….