Awhile back I mused on the myriad of writing rules that are out there to help any aspiring writer. Part of what was most amusing for me was that there were so damn many....
No, this is not an X song! Instead I thought it was a good day to remind of you of a few writely events that had nothing to do with fireworks, baseball, or apple pie.
Once upon a time, on the fourth of July, these things happened:
- 1804 Nathaniel Hawthorne, American writer (The Scarlet Letter) was born.
- 1845 Henry David Thoreau begins his 26-month stay at Walden Pond (that's his cabin up there).
- 1855 Walt Whitman publishes the first edition of Leaves of Grass at his own expense.
- 1862 Charles Dodgson first tells the story of Alice's adventures down the rabbit hole during a picnic along the Thames.
- 1865 - 1st edition of "Alice in Wonderland" is published
- 1895 The poem America the Beautiful is first published.
- 1931 Novelist James Joyce and Nora Barnacle are married in London after being
together for 26 years.
Any that I'm forgetting?
