The Weird Week in Writing: Bill Murray, Damon Wayans, plus the showdown between Team Gatsby and Team Prynne

Freaky Friday—the latest from the weird (and typically wonderful, with the exception of item No. 3) world of writing this week:

Bill Murray dons a hard hat:To read poetry to construction workers. (Really.) Awesomely strange.

Damon Wayans dons a red hat: And things take a turn for the serious as the "In Living Color"/Mo’ Money comedian releases his novel Red Hats—“an inspirational story about a recently widowed senior citizen woman, Alma, who rediscovers life through a special group of pals that call themselves the ‘Red Hats.’ ”

Write what you know (or else): A Providence man reportedly awoke to find three police officers in his sister’s apartment. They found a copy of a topical poem he’d written. According to the writer, the officers then said the following, and beat him up: "What does it [the poem] mean?” “If you don't tell me what this [the poem] is, I'm gonna slap your face across this cabinet.” “You shouldn't write about things if you don't know what you're talking about.”

Team Gatsby v. Team Prynne: Personally, I’m a Team Vonnegut man. What about you? Check out Novel-T’s new line of authorial baseball shirts. My credit card is calling my name (and calling me a nerd).

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WRITING PROMPT: Naming the Nemesis
Feel

free to take the following prompt home or post your
response (500
words or fewer, funny, sad or stirring) in the Comments section below.
If you’re having trouble with the
captcha code sticking, e-mail it to me at
writersdigest@fwmedia.com, with “Promptly” in the subject line, and I’ll
make sure it gets up.

As fate would have it, you’ve been invited to do the introduction for your longtime archenemy, who is speaking at your company’s annual conference. After drawing a breath and making sure you have everything you need, you approach the podium.

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