Words & Deeds

July 24, 2016

I’m Sorry: Think of Me As the White Rabbit (See: Tardiness)

I’m sorry. I know this post is coming much later than July 1st, but it may help to think of me as the White Rabbit from the Wonderland stories (or some of them). After all, if the White Rabbit had been on time, the entire adventure would have gone much differently. Perhaps, he’d have had time to talk to Alice...

Categories General Thoughts & Updates Comments: 0

June 22, 2016

I’m Taking a V*@*%^$n – Sort of

Why are we so obsessed with getting stuff done that we never take a vacation? It’s a pandemic (in the U.S., anyway). And it’s worse when you have a hobby/side career where everyone can see whether you’re working on it or not – like a blog for instance (gee, really?). Feel tired and take a week off – all anyone...

Categories General Thoughts & Updates Comment: 1

June 12, 2016

Writing Is an Easy Career? Says Who?

Did you expect writing to be an easy career, filled with glory? I was reading an article in the guardian called “You think writing’s a dream job? It’s more like a horror film” by Tim Lott that gives the impression that many people do (which I will not quote at all to avoid any risk of filling out the guardian’s...

Categories General Thoughts & Updates Comments: 0

June 11, 2016

A Writing Prompt for Dreams

I don’t mean the goals kind of dream. This writing prompt is meant for those weird, hazy, wtf dreams that happen in your sleep and fade within hours (if not minutes) of waking. Most of the time, they make no sense – talk about the art of the unexpected! That’s actually one of the best reasons to apply dreams to...

Categories Literary Device Exercises/Worldbuilding Exercises/Writing Prompts Comments: 0

June 10, 2016

A Grammar Pun to Lighten Your Day

Lol. The past presently presented the present, but the present preferred the present presently presented by the future. And, yes, that’s a correct sentence (a bit of passive but otherwise fine). Don’t you just love English?

Categories Humor & Wordplay Comments: 0

June 9, 2016

Why Doesn’t Anyone Care About Split Infinitives?

You know it’s true. For all that high school Grammar & Composition teachers tried to drill it into us, nobody cares. I’m not even sure the teachers care outside the classroom. Even grammar nazis seem to shrug and look the other way. In case some of you care so little that you’ve already wiped the error from your mind, here’s...

Categories Grammar & Editing Comment: 1

June 8, 2016

Fantasy & Sci Fi Terms: Terms for Magic & Technology

There’s a great technique in writing, especially in Fantasy or Science Fiction, where you use an existing word as a word for magic or technology. That’s a really great way to give your story character and make your world stand apart from others. The only problem arises when you forget and also use the word the way you normally would:...

Categories Research & Worldbuilding Comments: 0

June 7, 2016

Put the Puzzle Pieces Together in New Ways

Neologists kind of use the last writing prompt with prefixes, affixes, and roots. Take a root word from here, an affix or two from there, and voíla, you can build a new word. It’s like a puzzle that can be combined into hundreds, thousands of different ways. And the best part? You usually don’t have to think about it. It...

Categories Quotes, Words, & Phrases Comments: 2

June 6, 2016

A Word-Stealing Writing Prompt

Have you ever seen the Victor Borge bit where he cuts up pieces of famous uncopyrighted music and tapes them together to make a new piece? This writing prompt is a bit like that. Since I would never suggest that you cut up a book, however (sacrilege!), simply copy, print out, or write the lines to be used by hand....

Categories for Children/Writing Prompts Comments: 0

June 5, 2016

The Obscure Paradox: AKA Elf Speak

Oh, the paradox. There’s something both marvelous and horrid about a statement that is true and false at the same time. Or seems to be both, anyway. It’s great for confusing characters, adding a little local color through common phrases (“awfully good”), or writing dialogue for elves. Wait – what? All right. All right. It doesn’t have to be elves....

Categories Literary Devices & Writing Techniques Comments: 0