Helen Kirkpatrick, ethical behavior, the fountain pen, and more Father Brown: newsletter, June 30, 2023

June 30, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, June 30, 2023. And here I was thinking that some things would be pretty obvious to any reasonably intelligent person: One of the big news stories of the spring was that two Supreme Court justices had accepted money from an individual for • Read More »

Susan Glaspell, The Resurrection of Father Brown, and the value of exercise: newsletter, June 23, 2023

June 23, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, June 23, 2023. We have all heard this message many times before: Exercise, in almost any amount, is good for your body. The research is also increasingly pointing to the fact that exercise is good for your mind. Study after study shows • Read More »

Why writing is important to the writer

June 17, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalism.

Shane Parrish of the Farnham Street blog has written a short (two-minute read) essay on why writing is important. It is packed with insights about writing. It is also a powerful argument against the so-called “artificial intelligence” writing software we hear about so much these days. He says: Writing about something teaches you about what • Read More »

Jim Bouton’s Ball Four, Ann Radcliffe and Women With Words, and the importance of writing: newsletter, June 16, 2023

June 16, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: baseball, books, newsletter, Women writers and journalists, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, June 16, 2023. The public discourse these days has created an equivalent to “climate change.” It’s “doom.” But what if climate change doesn’t mean doom. What if it’s something different, something we never seem to consider. Author and historian Rebecca Solnit has • Read More »

Nellie Bly, Women With Words, and the first Wild West adventure stories: newsletter, June 9, 2023

June 9, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, newsletter, Vietnam Voices, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, June 9, 2023. It is something that during the majority of my working life I would have disdained and dismissed with disgust. The people who practiced it, I would have said in my youthful and middle-aged arrogance, were lazy, unmotivated, and a • Read More »

A special offer on Women With Words, Chesterton on wedding vows, and the most dangerous female spy: newsletter, June 2, 2023

June 2, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, journalism, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, June 2, 2023. Some years ago, I had a colleague—a man I liked and deeply respected—who asked me to read and edit an article that he was writing. He was a good writer, and I willingly took on the task. As I • Read More »

More on Francis Walsingham, Walt Whitman, loving your enemies, and more: newsletter, May 26, 2023

May 26, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: baseball, beekeeping, fiction, history, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, May 26, 2023. The New York Times recently reviewed a book a few years ago that I have not read but whose title I certainly agree with: Love Your Enemies. The book is by Arthur C. Brooks, who is among other things • Read More »

Francis Walsingham, the Elizabethan spymaster, moving the bees in a bait hive, and more: newsletter, May 19, 2023

May 19, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: baseball, beekeeping, books, fiction, history, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, May 19, 2023. This newsletter will have something special for its readers during the month of June. First, in each weekly edition, we will present one of the chapters of my latest book, Women With Words: Female Journalists and Writers (Heads and • Read More »

Paul Laurence Dunbar, bait hive success, an apology, and wonderful reader reaction: newsletter, May 12, 2023

May 12, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: baseball, beekeeping, fiction, history, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, May 12, 2023. Sometimes you have to simply accept responsibility. That happened to me last week when my website crashed and burned. The technician employed by my hosting service, the guy who took my call, was a terribly nice fellow, but it • Read More »

The Great Defender, a population explosion, and a newspaper article that turned into a famous poem:newsletter, May 5, 2023

May 5, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: baseball, beekeeping, fiction, history, journalism, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, May 5, 2023. During my nearly four decades as a college professor, I cannot remember a course that I taught where I did not take attendance—and emphasize to the students how important it is that they “show up.” Students would express a • Read More »

Anne Perry and her secret, John Creasey and his readers, and blooms for the bees: newsletter, April 28, 2023

April 28, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, history, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, April 28, 2023. Occasionally, people say in my presence that they do not want to live until the age of this number or that. Usually, it’s 90 or 95 or 100. The often unstated assumption behind that sentiment is that they will • Read More »

John Creasey, Constitutional what-ifs, the second Black MLB player, and a package of bees: newsletter, April 21, 2023

April 21, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, history, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, April 21, 2023. Someone pointed out once that the American Constitution guarantees its citizens many legal rights such as the right to a fair trial and protection against undo government intrusion. The reason it does so, it is said, is because the • Read More »

The Golden Age of Sports Writing, the non-extinction of bees, and the Father of American illustration: newsletter, April 14, 2023

April 14, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, history, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, April 14, 2023. There is an essential fact about honeybees that has been obscured by more than a decade of reporting in the news media about them. That fact is this: Honeybees are not dying, and we are nowhere close to losing • Read More »

The ‘Mother of True Crime,’ the Grand Review, a Lenten devotional and more: newsletter, April 7, 2023

April 7, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, history, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, April 7, 2023. I am fascinated by what I sometimes call the “miracle of growth.” It is something of a cliche to say that a tiny acorn can turn into a giant oak tree, but it is also literally true. A kernel • Read More »

William Hone and the fight for press freedom, more on bees and swarms, Women With Words; newsletter, March 31, 2023

March 31, 2023 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, fiction, history, newsletter, writers, writing.

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (2,845) on Friday, March 31, 2023. Life begins on Opening Day. The Major League Baseball season began this week. Despite all the innovations, the game remains much the same as it was played 150 years ago. A pitcher who delivers a high heater is liable • Read More »