There are two kinds of people in the world:

When I was young, I’d say that I don’t need luck since I have talent, but I know better than that now.

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” –Chekhov   Broken glass after the Chekhovian gun has fired.

A Soviet educational movie “2017” shot in 1960. Bering Strait will be closed by a dam to improve the climate of the Far East. Huge underground machines will mine coal beyond the Polar Circle. The alarm clock will tickle your nose. Photon rockets will take you to Alpha Centauri. You could drop a hand-written request…

Deadly diseases for a writer: Logizomechanophobia– Fear of computers. Logophobia– Fear of words. Atelophobia- Fear of imperfection.

Can each chapter in a novel-in-stories, like “My Life at First Try,” stand alone? Like an orchestra player, each individual chapter can play nicely by itself, but a group of them can still work in concert.

My twin granddaughters, 5 months old now (but adjusted to 3 since they were born prematurely), is the most attentive audience I have ever had.  They are staring at me with starry-eyed admiration and even forget to blink I have already exhausted my considerable arsenal of Russian poetry I know by heart, the English-language stories…