Writer

WEST BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- A family friend says "Howdy Doody Show" writer Edward Kean has died at the age of 85. Kean was the primary writer for the show and penned the theme song to which millions of American children sang along each week during the show's run on NBC from 1947 to 1960. Family friend Del Reddy said Monday that Kean died Aug. 13 at a nursing care facility in Oakland County's West Bloomfield Township from complications of emphysema. Reddy says the New York City native wrote the song "It's Howdy Doody Time," which was sung during the show's opening.

Dave Walker, Greg Garner and John Pullaro, Edward Jones investment representatives in Washington County, will host a free program Jan. 21 at 6:30 p.m. featuring Time magazine political writer Hugh Sidey. During the program, Sidey and Edward Jones financial experts will discuss their outlooks on the nation, economy and financial markets in 2003. The live, interactive broadcast is presented at Edward Jones branch offices nationwide via the firm's private satellite network. For more information about the program or to reserve a seat, call Dave Walker at 301-766-7300, Greg Garner at 301-733-6406 or John Pullaro at 301-824-7726.

"Mrs. Prejean, we can't do this project. We have writer's block. " Ah, what music to my ears. A problem I might actually be able to fix. Not that I haven't been there myself. There have been times when I've stared at my computer screen and the words just wouldn't come. Sometimes it helps to get up, move around a little bit and then come back to the keyboard. The best remedy for writer's block, though, occurs long before the first word is written. Careful planning eliminates many of the barriers writers face while trying to make copy flow.

How many times have you heard that you were “gonna get the dickens” from someone? What kind of punishment came with “the dickens”? Did you ever inquire about the origin of “dickens”?   I once was told that “dickens” came from writer Charles Dickens, who wrote scathing articles scolding government, businesses and individuals who polluted the air, water or ground; exploited children; tolerated slums; or were greedy. I later discovered that “dickens” was a name used to refer to the devil, long before Charles Dickens was born.

Chris Rowland, left, formerly of Hagerstown, had his photo taken with Hollywood actor/writer Tom Arnold on Friday, March 14, in Los Angeles, where Chris works.

Brigitte Grewe, 13, will be a freshman at South Hagerstown High School. She thinks the world looks differently when you look down from a small airplane. Erica L. Syverson, 17, graduated from North Hagerstown High School this month. She is an aspiring novelist and poet. Eliza Schmidt, 12, is a homeschooler living in Fairfield, Pa. She loves art, good stories and cuddly animals - real and virtual. Sidney Little, 14, will be a freshman at Boonsboro High School.

Murder. Affairs. Baby switching. Long lost relatives. Lovers torn apart. Lovers reunited. Back stabbing. Sex scenes. Flashbacks. These are the "Days of Our Lives. " Or least they're all in a day's work for "Days of Our Lives" scriptwriter Jeanne Marie Ford, 41, of New Market, Md. Ford hadn't planned for her work life to be a soap opera, but she has had a career spanning more than 20 years in daytime dramas. Her job writing about the lives of the Bradys, Hortons and others in the town of Salem (we never really know what state Salem is in)

In these days of instant communication by cell phones and e-mail, it seems like no one wants to write anymore. E-mail may involve typing words, but the shorthand commonly used can barely qualify as writing. In fact, the use of e-mail may even erode grammar, spelling and sentence structure skills. Many teens don't recognize that they need solid formal writing skills in college and their careers. Scientists, social workers and salespeople all need to effectively communicate in writing.

kevinc@herald-mail.com He stands stage left. She sits with a slight stoop of the shoulders, stage right. And they read, bringing playwright Harry Newman's "Correspondence" to dazzling life with little more than voices shifting between sad melancholy and edgy frustration. There are no flailing histrionics, exaggerated movements or eccentric set pieces on which to fall back. No, the play's the thing; Bill Morgan and Lynn Seely are just trying to do right by it as the script ping-pongs from one actor to the other.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- While staying in Franklin County in 1859, this visitor used the alias Isaac Smith. The Final Jeopardy! clue in a Franklin County, Pa., version of the game proved less difficult than many other prompts for three teams competing Wednesday evening in Chambersburg. All correctly answered "Who is John Brown?" "Our backup answer was Nellie Fox," Bill Gour quipped. Gour, part of the winning team "The Explorers," was referring to several questions in the "baseball" and "award-winners" categories that dealt with the accomplishments of Fox, a former Chicago White Sox second baseman from St. Thomas, Pa. Categories ranged from local landmarks to "famous people named Ben" in the new event made part of ChambersFest, a 15-day festival celebrating the rebirth of Chambersburg.

As part of the upcoming Nora Roberts Writing Institute (NRWI) at Hagerstown Community College, HCC will also offer a special Young Writers Institute for high school students entering 10th through 12 grades. The Young Writers Institute will be Friday, Aug. 2, and Saturday, Aug. 3, the same weekend as NRWI, and will feature a series of workshops and events specially geared towards aspiring, young writers. Workshops will include fiction-crafting and publishing, as well as the opportunity to network with other teen writers.

Murder. Affairs. Baby switching. Long lost relatives. Lovers torn apart. Lovers reunited. Back stabbing. Sex scenes. Flashbacks. These are the "Days of Our Lives. " Or least they're all in a day's work for "Days of Our Lives" scriptwriter Jeanne Marie Ford, 41, of New Market, Md. Ford hadn't planned for her work life to be a soap opera, but she has had a career spanning more than 20 years in daytime dramas. Her job writing about the lives of the Bradys, Hortons and others in the town of Salem (we never really know what state Salem is in)

As part of the upcoming Nora Roberts Writing Institute at Hagerstown Community College, HCC will also offer a Young Writers Institute for high school students entering 10th, 11th, or 12th grade. The Young Writers Institute will be Friday, Aug. 2 and Saturday, Aug. 3, and will feature a series of workshops and events specially geared toward aspiring young writers. Workshops will include fiction-crafting and publishing, and the opportunity to network with other teen writers. Cost is $185 per person.

As part of the upcoming Nora Roberts Writing Institute at Hagerstown Community College, HCC will offer a Young Writers Institute for high school students entering 10th, 11th or 12th grade. The program will be held Aug. 2 and 3, the same weekend as the Nora Roberts program, and will feature a series of workshops and events geared toward aspiring young writers. Workshops will include fiction-crafting and publishing, as well as the opportunity to network with other teen writers. Cost is $185 per person.

In 2011, murder mystery author Lauren Carr gave a presentation on writing and independent publishing to a packed audience at Williamsport Library. One attendee, Fay Moore of Williamsport, collected names and contact information of people interested in forming a writers group. Out of that effort came the Writers of the Desert Rose Cafe, a 10-member writers group meeting twice a month at Desert Rose Cafe in downtown Williamsport. The Herald-Mail sat down with seven members of the group and with Carr, who has served as a publishing consultant on their first group publishing project, an anthology, “Writers of the Desert Rose Cafe: An Anthology.” What do you do during your meetings?

The Wilson College Writers Group will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, in the Wilson College's Hankey Center. The campus is at 1015 Philadelphia Ave., Chambersburg, Pa. Creative writers who are interested in learning aboutthe  craft, sharing their work and supporting others with similar interests are encouraged to attend. For more information, contact Wilson adjunct assistant professor of English Sharon Erby at 717-264-4141, ext. 3370, or sharon.erby@wilson.edu .

Age: 54 City in which you reside: Smithsburg Day job: Web developer, High Rock Studios, Hagerstown Book title: "Rare Images of Antietam and the Photographers Who Took Them" Genre: Historical nonfiction, Civil War Synopsis of book: "Rare Images of Antietam" is the beginning of my attempt to document, organize and interpret, in a comprehensive fashion, the historical photographs and photographers associated with...

Francesca Giustini gestured emphatically as she read her poem called “Sheen Heard Some Voices,” inspired by many of the “winning” yet bizarre comments made by actor Charlie Sheen when he denied having psychological problems in a 2011 television news interview. “Sheen heard voices who were duh, winning,” Giustini read aloud. “... Sheen heard voices who had veins filled with tiger blood.” Numerous Hagerstown Community College students and faculty members joined Giustini for an open mic reading session Thursday night during a launch party at HCC's student center to celebrate the release of the school's annual literary magazine, Hedge Apple.

Nora Ephron - journalist, essayist, novelist, blogger, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, producer, director, playwright, world-class cook and world-class friend - died June 26. I am so sad. In the month since Ephron's passing, I have spent hours on the Internet, reading and watching everything about her I could find. There were obituaries and columns, touching tributes by some of her legion of friends. (Eight hundred, including entertainment, media, politics and publishing luminaries, attended the invitation-only memorial service she'd planned herself.)