How about a Throwback Thursday from the 19th century?

Literary icon Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835.

For a blog that emphasizes writing with creative twists on a myriad of events, celebrating the birth of famed author Mark Twain is a must. Actually, it’s more of an act of gratitude to the man who effectively planted the idea in our impressionable minds as young whippersnappers that this thing in school called “literature” expanded beyond the witty and signature verbiage of William Shakespeare (c’mon, we all struggled in memorizing and understanding Shakespeare in sixth-grade) to a more conversational language of rambunctious kids causing trouble and going off on exciting adventures. We related to these stories as if our own, with a little imagination mixed in for good measure and fun. And while there are countless authors in the world, current, past and surely in the future, there is only a handful in relative terms who have risen above the rest to secure and connect with new generations of readers as the years accumulate far beyond the original publish date of declared classics of the written word.

Mark Twain is regarded as one of these masterful wordsmiths.

Your homework assignment is to read or re-read a book by Mark Twain. This time, from his perspective…

one that profoundly changed the trajectory of American literary history.