JOHN CULLUM'S E-MAIL TO EM

"Dear Emily, I am from a large Southern family of which my mother was the matriarch, and every Thanksgiving was an big, exciting affair with aunts and uncles and cousins, some of which I only saw once a year. Emotions were high, and along with love and good spirits were moments of family squabbles of epic and frightening proportions that sometimes resulted in enduring resentments. This tradition still continues with my nieces and nephews and though we may not give as much thought as we should to the pilgrims and Indians, it’s a time when our different families renew their connections to each other and that’s a lot to give thanks for.

"But the most memorable Thanksgiving dinner for me was the one a young redheaded dancer made for me in her Artist In Residence studio in New York City. It wasn’t a turkey, just a large chicken, and it never occurred to me that this gorgeous girl could even cook, but boy, she could – all the trimmings, fresh cranberry sauce, stuffing, sweet potatoes, vegetables and all. I could hardly believe it. There she was, the best dancer I had ever seen, gracefully whirling around a tiny kitchen, whipping up a dinner as good as any I had ever eaten, and all for me. Never had a Thanksgiving meal been made exclusively for me and me alone, and with such love. It was an experience I couldn’t walk away from. And I never did. I guess Emily decided if I was going to keep hanging around, she might as well marry me. Which she did.

"Thought this might please you, Em. Your loving husband -- John Cullum."

(VIDEO) JOHN CULLUM ON PLAYING SMALLER ROLES

How does  Broadway Star John feel about doing small roles, nowadays -- no longer playing the leading man.

"It would make me nuts!" Emily says, referring to the old men with Alzheimer's, the cranky grandfather parts he's been playing.

John admits that it can make him feel a bit nutty, but reveals why those smaller roles are "wonderful work."  Since he's currently playing a "small role" on Broadway, in the musical "Waitress," what he says is especially fascinating.

COUNTING MY BLESSINGS

What do I want to say...?


I'm not sure.

I doodled this spur of the moment.

Occasionally, when I'm not sure what's on my mind, doodling helps me, reminds me of this-and-that, a bunch of things... yes, there seems to be a mish-mash of things, growing things in a sort of bouquet.

 Our son JD's in a play in LA; he's got a new project, a lovely girl friend -- that he's okay, doing well, better than ever is definitely one of my blessings.

My husband's in a show on a schedule that gets him home late while I'm working on things that get me up early, but that's a blessing -- that we're busy, committed to work, able to do things that we enjoy doing.

Our home-sweet-home -- every morning when I wake up and cross the bright green floor and see garden furniture, plants, and light pouring in from the skylight -- that's a blessing.

Okay, there are other things -- it's lucky, wonderful, a lifetime blessing that my husband's talent made us enough money to live safely and well.

Big biggest blessing -- we have each other and cherish each other.





Hey, spur of the moment, click -- enjoy my video.  

WRITERS--MEET SIR HAROLD EVANS

Have you heard of Sir Harold Evans?  He is one of the greatest editors alive, according to the New York Times, and The New Yorker.

What he knows is in his new book:

Illustrated. 408 pp. Little, Brown & Company.

From 1967 to 1981, Evans was the helmsman in London, of The Sunday Times till he clashed its purchaser, Rupert Murdoch, and moved to America. By the nineties, he was head of Random House, editing books by distinguished authors such as Norman Mailer and Henry Kissinger. He married Tina Brown, former famous editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. As a distinguished author himself of a few books on American History, he is uniquely qualified to instruct us on how to write well.

Harold Evans tells us: "What really matters is making your meaning clear beyond a doubt. And the key to clarity, is concision."

In his book, he offers edifying and entertaining “Ten Shortcuts to Making Yourself Clear,” for instance, No. 7 is “Don’t Be a Bore.” Influenced by 19th-century American reformers who wanted written sentences to be shorter and easier to understand, Evans invites us into what he calls his “sentence clinic.” There we see him in editorial action, applying his surgical tools to specimens of "bloated, dull, euphemistic, incomprehensible prose"-- specific newspaper articles, academic writing, and finally, brilliantly -- the entire 2010 White House report on the underwear bomber.

Evans analysis/reworking of the bomber occupies nearly 50 pages. He even operates on a passage from “Pride and Prejudice,” asking, “What is Jane Austen saying?”

You may have to force your eyeballs to get through this as you are learning to do what Evans does.  Writing is hard work. Often, starting a project, you're relaxing and enjoying rambling around until you find the idea, and dig into it. Later, you'll need to diligently revise clumsy, turgid, bits and cut what's excessive.

Reading and studying Harold Evans will give you ways to cultivate your own inner editor who can skillfully, even efficiently, help you shape a "good" book -- one that will successfully find an audience.