Respect for writing as a core value

Over the weekend I was treated to a series of experiences that solidified my respect for good writing and my love of books.

• Thomas Friedman, recently authored a book , that is going to be very influential about the emerging "Flat Earth Economy." He was the subject of a fascinating 3-hour TV interview on C-SPAN.
• George Nash, who wrote Books and the Founding Fathers , discussed his research on what books the Republic's Founding Fathers read, wrote and collected -- also on C-SPAN.
• Rosie O'Donnel very creatively writes a popular blog , and brilliantly acted in last night's TV Hallmark Hall of Fame well-scripted "Riding the Bus With My Sister."
• And I learned by embarrasing trial and error (connected with my previous post) that a copyrighted piece of original writing is to be honored and respected in the practice of blogging. (I had copied and credited something I thought was good, rather than merely linking to the author's material). Luckily, I had courteously notified the author that I was linking to her article, and she replied with a request that I remove the copied stuff. I did, and she e-mailed me with thanks, a link to an article on copyrighting , and a compliment for my new site.

Writing and reading have long occupied a large piece of my time, effort, thought and energy. Since before I went to school I have been a collector and reader of books. My mother and my grandmother read to me, I have been gifted with books, I given books away, collected and catalogued books, and belonged to Public Libraries everywhere I have lived. These days I read literary blogs, and I am a "newby" blogger myself. Who'da thought it!