Tools of the Writers Trade
Nabokov’s novels all began on 3×5 these, which he kept under his pillow in case of inspiration
Index card
As the central river artery, this is one of the world’s busiest waterways
The mississippi
The name of this condition that affects mostly women literally means "porous bone"
osteoporosis
In 2008 a marble one of these was found in a French river, apparently thrown there right after Caesar’s fall
A bust
The first of his cowboy hats was called the boss of the plains; Carlsbad, the most popular model, followed
Stetson
In 2009 this, on which Cormac McCarthy produced 5 million words, sold for over $250,000 at auction
A typewriter
Although its ultimate source is still debated, this river flows into the Atlantic
The amazon
This fatty substance inside the bones is a major site of blood cell production
The marrow
It’s named for Julius Caesar & is sometimes written in a date as "7"
July
The act of herding cattle; death was sometimes called "the last" one
The roundup
At London’s Charles Dickens museum, visitors can handle Dickens’ own pen of this type
A fountain pen
From two small sources, this river flows to the North Sea
The rhine
Your false ribs are so called because unlike your true ribs, they aren’t attached to this breastbone
The sternum
In Spanish the name becomes this, as on former boxing champion Chavez
Julia’s Caesar chavez
In 1859 this Nevada town sprung up virtually overnight with the discovery of the Comstock Lode
Virginia city
Raymond Chandler composed screenplays by talking into this machine, a brand name copyrighted in 1907
A dictaphone
The head of this river is dry for much of the year and flows to an estuary on the North Sea
The thame
Daily double: This bone with a ball-&-socket joint at one end is about 1/4 of your height
The femur
This 5-word line spoken by the soothsayer is a quote from Shakespeare’s "Julius Caesar"
Beware the ides of march
In 1867 Joseph McCoy set up a shipping yard in Abilene, Kansas to hold Texas cattle arriving on this trail
Chisholm trail
Steinbeck was obsessed with these; the Mongol 2 3/8 model came closest to the perfect point
A pencil
Flowing westward, this river has a drainage basin that covers seven states
the Colorado
Kelly of the Clue Crew shows an anatomical animation on the monitor.) Most broken bones in children are this type of fracture with a colorful name, in which the break cuts only partway through the bone
A greenstick
In 45 B.C. Caesar was given permission to wear this, which he appreciated as it covered his baldness
A laurel wreath
As the result of an injury suffered in his first gunfight in 1876, he began using a cane & often used it as a weapon
Bat masterson