Write A Book

R.L. Stine, the writer of the popular "Goosebumps" horror series, began writing in 1952 when he was 9 years old, not much older than many of his current fans. Before he began the Goosebumps series in 1992, Stine was known for his humorous children's books that included "101 Silly Monster Jokes" and "Bozos on Patrol." He was also editor of Bananas magazine.Stine remembers being a big fan of scary movies when he was a kid and he recalls those titles when he names new books in the Goosebumps series.

Anyone with children of both genders knows getting boys to read a book unprompted is about as simple as getting girls to turn their eyelids inside out and gross out strangers in the grocery store.At Worthington Elementary School in Ellicott City, where teachers and parents are trying to come up with ways to keep boys interested in reading and writing, Fred Bowen tried to help yesterday.The Silver Spring resident, author of eight novels geared to children ages 8 to 12, seemed a good choice.

Undeterred by knee and hip ailments in the last year, Hampstead author Joan Prall has managed to capture the town's history through the eyes of dozens of elderly residents, self-publishing her third book, "Hampstead -- Its Heart and History."Prall, 67, said her inspiration to write came from college friends who told her, "Someday, you ought to write a book."Prall laughed at the thought when she attended Beaver College in Pennsylvania. After moving to Carroll County 32 years ago, she was content to free-lance as a feature writer for the Carroll Record, a Taneytown weekly that ceased publication in January 1977.

Two third-grade girls shrieked like star-struck fans when Carmen Phillips entered Riverview Elementary School yesterday.The state superintendent of schools acknowledged she was "envious" of Carmen's artistic abilities. The principal of Chase Elementary School called her an "inspiration" for young writers.All of the attention was more than a little unfamiliar to Carmen -- she is just an 11-year-old from Ocean City.But as the author and illustrator of the children's book "Cleocatra," Carmen was invited to tour two Baltimore County elementary schools yesterday, shaking hands, autographing books and talking to students about reading and writing.

The reviews are starting to come in on Dick Morris' tattletale book, "Behind the Oval Office." The New York Times calls it "lively, readable and anecdotally rich." Even the White House has spoken: "fascinating reading" if at times "factually wrong."But if you're interested in a review from Sherry Rowlands, the prostitute who made Dick Morris famous outside the Beltway with her tabloid revelations of his foot fetish and propensity to share presidential phone calls, you'll have to wait. She's not about to spend $25.95 on it, and instead is waiting for a free copy that her own book agent has promised to send.

If you could assign a well-known author to write a book in 1997, who would be the author? What would be the subject? What should the book do?What book, 15 years old or older, deserves new attention? Why?Jean McGarryNovelist, who will have her fifth book, "Gallagher's Travels," published by The Johns Hopkins University Press in the spring. She teaches in the Writing Seminars at the Johns Hopkins University.Grace Paley should write a collection of a stories, a "Little Disturbances of Man" set in the 1980s or 1990s.

Memo to aspiring mystery writers. 1) Get elected to the U.S. Senate. 2) Choose a connected co-author whose husband happens to be a well-known media consultant. 3) Throw a book party at a national political convention.Baltimore's own Barbara Mikulski was the belle of what proved to be an A-list breakfast at the Democratic National Convention yesterday, as politicos and press gathered to celebrate publication of her first book, "Capitol Offense."Written with former Los Angeles Times society columnist Marylouise Oates, the book centers on a newly appointed senator, Norie Gorzack of Pennsylvania, and any similarities to real Capitol Hill types are completely coincidental.

Henry W. Thomas did not know much about his grandfather, who died of tuberculosis soon after Thomas was born. He knew Walter Johnson was a famous pitcher for the Washington Senators early in the century. Thomas didn't know how famous until he discovered the Walter Johnson family scrapbooks at his mother's Virginia home. The scrapbooks taught Thomas a lot about Johnson, but he knew there was more. Thomas quit his job as a nightclub manager and began researching his grandfather's life. His work culminated with the private publication of Thomas' book, "Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train."

They were making books instead of sandwiches, but the 16 families that filled the Mount Airy Elementary School gym were spreading out blankets as if for an indoor picnic.The school sponsored a "Family Writer's Night" Thursday. Parents and children unfurled their blankets and pulled out family photos and mementos for inspiration."I wrote stuff in kindergarten, but I didn't write books," said Corey Franklin, a first-grader. He and his parents sat on a plaid wool throw, looking through pictures of a day they spent tubing.

WASHINGTON -- As he tries to focus attention on his "Contract with America," House Speaker Newt Gingrich is finding the spotlight inexorably fixed on his contract with the HarperCollins publishing house for a lucrative book deal.Dominating his morning news conference yesterday, igniting fireworks on the House floor Wednesday, and spiraling out this week to touch off partisan feuds and tirades, the book deal is clouding what Mr. Gingrich hoped would be the triumphant opening weeks of his reign.

I have a new career plan, and it involves finding something I can do every day for a year and then finding somebody who will pay me to write a book about what happens when I do. This appears to be a lucrative publishing niche. We can now read about guys who spend a year reading the Oxford English Dictionary, the Bible and the Encyclopaedia Britannica. We can read about a woman who spent a year cooking Julia Child's recipes in a tiny New York apartment and a woman who spent a year traveling to three continents to find herself and a woman who spent a year taking all the advice offered in fashion magazines.

Author and bookstore owner Carl Weber says the idea for his latest book, Something on the Side, came from watching an episode of HBO's Sex and the City. "I decided to write a plus-sized version of the show," says Weber, 41, who recently appeared at a book signing at the Catonsville Wal-Mart. His primary readership of black women enjoys his humorous drama-filled spins on everyday life. Released in January, Something on the Side reached The New York Times best-sellers list. Weber also has had other works appear on that list, including The First Lady and So You Call Yourself a Man. Weber's latest book revolves around the adventurous lives of six women from the Big Girls Book Club, a group for plus-sized women, who are at least a size 14. Weber says this is a demographic that gravitates to his books.

THE WORLD AS I KNEW IT CHANGED IN JULY 2003 when my wife and I learned that she was pregnant. We had prayed and wished and hoped (and tried) for a baby, and now those prayers were answered. Indeed, there was the joy, excitement and sheer exhilaration at the idea of bringing a new life into the world. At the same time, we were somewhat overwhelmed by the thought of reorganizing our schedules, reprioritizing our lives and navigating the fields of work and home. As lawyers, we were used to the demands of client service and late-night motions drafting, but less familiar with the demands of diaper changing and late-night feeding and burping.

Rona Jaffe, 74, whose 1958 novel The Best of Everything told the melodramatic story of four young career girls torn between storybook romance and cutthroat corporate Manhattan, died of cancer Friday at University College Hospital in London, where she was on vacation. Movie producer Jerry Wald essentially commissioned Miss Jaffe, at the time a 25-year-old former associate editor in publishing, to write a book that he could turn into a blockbuster feature film. Less than a year after the book appeared, The Best of Everything was released as a chic but heavy-handed film by 20th Century Fox. Hope Lange, Diane Baker, Martha Hyer and the 1950s model Suzy Parker starred as the young women about town.

PORTLAND, Maine - Take the fibs out of fishing and there's nothing left. But write it all down, and you may have a best-seller. After telling readers about her life at sea as skipper, as a swordfishing captain and about living on a speck of granite surrounded by a sea of lobster traps, Linda Greenlaw has decided that what we really need to know about her nautical life is that All Fishermen Are Liars. Which means, of course, that Linda Greenlaw is a liar, a fact gleefully played up by the publisher of her three books and spread around by her friends here at the Dry Dock Restaurant and Tavern on the city's waterfront.

Something about Charles A. Moose is different. The man who became the public face of the investigation into the sniper killings last fall in suburban Washington is signing copies of his new book when a woman puts it out there. "Is this a new look?" she asks. "I don't think I can get used to that." She's talking about his head, now shiny and bald. When he was hunting the sniper, he says, he dared not visit his barber for fear people would think he wasn't working hard enough. His hair grew so long that he was shocked when he saw himself on television.

The Montgomery County Ethics Commission ruled yesterday that Police Chief Charles A. Moose cannot write a book or consult for a movie based on last fall's sniper investigation because he would be profiting from the prestige of his office. Moose, who became the anguished public face of law enforcement during the sniper attacks that killed 10 people in the Washington region in October, can appeal the decision to Circuit Court. Moose had not received word of the ethics commission's decision yesterday.

As book editor and columnist for a major newspaper in a community littered with universities, centered in a metropolis that for a dozen recent years touted itself as "The City That Reads," I am regularly, often passionately, approached by people who have written -- or are writing, or yearn to write -- a book. The ones who concern me here have not been published. "Successful" writers should already have confidence and counsel. Nor am I concerned with books about self-help, pet training, angel welfare or getting rich tomorrow, or with novels that are sold mainly in airports -- commodity books.

So, you want to write a book? Don't do it. This I have learned in a hard-working year as assistant to The Sun's book editor, helping screen thousands of books that yearn to be reviewed. For most books, chances of success are slim. Maybe you are one of the lucky few blessed with literary genius. Then you can ignore me. Go write. Some of history's greatest literature has been rejected by the market only to be vindicated by time. If your writing is going to change the world, go for it. But don't expect it to be easy.

Often when selecting a read-aloud book for young children, we tend to reach for fiction. Yet, as adults, most of our reading is nonfiction: manuals, newspapers, maps and the Internet. Research studies have revealed the scarcity of nonfiction reading in the early grades in school, too. This is ironic because young children really love to learn about the world around them. By integrating nonfiction books into your read-aloud agenda, you will help your child think critically and use skills that will prove valuable in later grades.