Author Archives: mcbruce56

Sorry, America. Know you were rooting for the Bengals, who have never won a Super Bowl and had that young, charismatic quarterback. Know you wanted the underdog to come out on top. Know that you really don’t care about Los Angeles teams. Tough. So sad, too bad. As a long-time Rams fan, all I haveContinue reading “Rams 23, Bengals 20”

Creative people understand that you need to kiss the muse if you are to stay in the game. This lovely lady likes to sneak up on you and inspire you at unpredictable moments. You’re grocery shopping. You see a jar of peanut butter. Suddenly, a poem about peanut butter sandwiches in your childhood comes toContinue reading “Kissing the Muse”

And only a lawyer would think the word “addenda” would attract a reader… Anyway, earlier this week I complained about a silly agent whose “rules” for the first line in your novel include “No waking up” and “don’t start with dialogue.” It was pointed out to me that some very successful novels begin just thatContinue reading “Addenda to the Rules”

I have just finished listening to a “seminar” given by a literary agent in which she critiqued proposed first lines of novels. Sounds good, right? If the first line doesn’t grab you, the rest of the book is in trouble, right? Yes, except that this particular agent was…well, a fool. “We never begin a bookContinue reading “The Rules and The Fools”

Every sniffle, every sneeze, every congested night and drowsy day, and you keep asking yourself, “Is it Covid?” Because the symptoms of Covid seem to be: If you have the sniffles, it’s Covid. If you don’t have the sniffles, it’s Covid. If you have a headache, it’s Covid. If you don’t have a headache, it’sContinue reading “It’s Not Covid”

This little cartoon, Non Sequitur (courtesy of GoComics,) tells it all. Nobody loves lawyers. Why? Some would say that lawsuits ruin our society. But that’s not true. Most lawsuits actually create better protections for the common man. The famous McDonald’s lawsuit about the woman burned with coffee? That woman actually suffered serious burns when theContinue reading “Lord Love a Lawyer”

Why we make ourselves crazy during December is anyone’s guess. January is the traditional time to take a deep breath and figure out what to do for the next 11 months. Here at the Law Emporium of Mark Bruce, we are hoping to catch up on some cases, confound our enemies and delight our friends.Continue reading “You May Now Breathe”

This is the time of year for blogs to carry titles like “Christmas memories” or “Christmas as a kid” or “What I want for Christmas” etc etc etc. Ich. I, for one, am pretty happy that I no longer have to rush around buying a ton of toys for my lovely and brilliant son. WrappingContinue reading “Yule B. Sorry”

After my last post I was contacted by one of the three people who read this blog (the other two subscribed by mistake and can’t figure out how to fix it). She told me that I should be happy to write entertaining mysteries and not worry about the transgressive thing. Uh, yeah. I am notContinue reading “What I Meant to Say Was…”

Here’s what I’m jealous of: Writers who don’t give a flying F**k. One of my women friends (not pictured above, but if you have this woman’s telephone number, don’t be stingy with it) is considered a “transgressive” writer. She chronicles the adventures of the demimonde. Her characters are addicts, thieves, ex-cons, drug dealers, down-and-outers, trailerContinue reading “Transgressive”