Monthly Archive: April, 2016

April 20, 2016

PC Program Subscriptions Make Me Feel Old & Aggravated (See Rant Below)

Are you old enough to remember when buying a computer program meant getting a cd? You know, the little silver disc that got inserted into your computer in the “cupholder”? The magic disc that could put a program on your computer or put it on the computer again after something malfunctioned 0r even put it on a new computer when the old...

Categories General Thoughts & Updates Comments: 0

April 19, 2016

What Made Me Think Updating My Computer Was a Good Idea?

Those of you who read regularly or who read twytte, too, may have noticed that I tend to always be in a time crunch, and I have trouble getting into a regular schedule where I can easily get everything done. So why did I think that spending several hours backing up and then updating my computer was a good idea?...

Categories General Thoughts & Updates Comments: 0

April 18, 2016

With Perfect Grammar, They Ask “Why Does Grammar Matter?”

Since I think a lot of you are word lovers, I may be preaching to the choir, but it scares me a little when people ask things like “Why does grammar matter?” If it’s an honest, innocent question, that’s fine (although it makes me sad for our education system). When it’s an objection like “But that’s not really important!” it drives me a little...

Categories General Thoughts & Updates/Grammar & Editing Comments: 0

April 17, 2016

Less v. Fewer: Finally! A Checkout Lane with Good Grammar!

I was so excited that the grammar was correct that I had to take a picture. Ridiculous? Yes. But so many stores get it wrong, that a sign that actually said “12 items or fewer” made my day! For the record, always use “fewer” with countable nouns: items, tables, shirts, cars, etc. If you can say, “1 car, 2 cars,...

Categories Grammar & Editing Comments: 0

April 16, 2016

Writing in 2nd Person: Do or Don’t?

Every novel-writing class I’ve ever taken warned us about writing novels in second person. “You can try it,” they’d say, “but it’s harder to get published.” It made sense to me, and since I never really wanted to write in 2nd person anyway, I never really thought much about it. Then recently, I ran across an article about writing in 2nd person...

Categories General Thoughts & Updates Comment: 1

April 15, 2016

Writing Prompt: A Moment in History

Here’s a writing prompt to practice shaping your writing to the point of view of the character. It’s fairly simple yet fairly difficult at the same time (like most of writing, I suppose). It goes something like this: 5 Step History Writing Prompt  1. Pick a famous moment from history. It doesn’t have to be a famous moment. It could be...

Categories Characterization Exercises/Characterization, Plot, & Setting/Writing Prompts Comments: 0

April 14, 2016

How Choosing Point of View Changes Everything

Ok. Maybe not everything (that might be hyperbole). The point of view probably won’t change your plot (only what you see of it). It probably won’t change your setting. It doesn’t have to change who your characters are. What it does change is how you write about it – and I’m not just talking about pronouns. I should probably clarify because...

Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting/General Thoughts & Updates Comments: 6

April 13, 2016

The Worm’s-eye Point of View

Categories Quotes, Words, & Phrases Comment: 1

April 12, 2016

Literal-Minded People: Add Humor, Plot Complications, & Characterization

Figurative Language : Literal-minded People :: Specific Colors : Color-blind people It’s a little harsh, but it’s true. And it’s not because they’re not smart. People who are literal-minded take words at face value. They don’t understand puns (bad pickup lines are lost on them), they find loopholes in all but the most specific instructions, and heaven help them if they’re...

Categories Characterization, Plot, & Setting/Humor & Wordplay Comments: 4

April 11, 2016

3 Words So Commonly Used Incorrectly That Most People Just Don’t Care

Sadly, there are far more than three. You know it. I know it. Let us remove our hats, bow our heads, and have a moment of silence for all the poor words so commonly used incorrectly. Ok. Moment of silence over. I picked these three words because they’ve been misused so much that the false definition is commonly accepted as...

Categories General Thoughts & Updates/Grammar & Editing/Quotes, Words, & Phrases Comments: 4