My new writers’ group partner (we’ll call her “TQ Poet”) and I met again last week and this morning. We’ve decided that entering contests will be a great motivation. I had begun to enter a few last year, but, of course, lost my motivation when I didn’t make it past the short list. TQ Poet … Read More →
Very excited to meet up with an old friend, who will remain anonymous. She and I spent many an evening discussing novels, poetry, and prose years and years ago. We have both dusted off our “works” and will begin meeting regularly in order to gain some writing inspiration. I need this regular influx of conversation … Read More →
I finally got around to doing last Saturday’s New York Time’s puzzle. I was waiting until I had time to savor it, since Saturday’s puzzles are the most challenging of the week. The clue for 35 down was: Classic Doors song in which Jim Morrison refers to himself anagrammatically as “Mr. Mojo Risin’” Seriously? I’ve … Read More →
Q. Hi, Chicago—I’m replying to your e-mail answer more than seven years later because I’m still trying to wrap my head around punctuating sentences like these: She was still so shocked, it took her a while to find her voice. He was so fixated on his game, he had no idea I’d entered the room. Do … Read More →
For the fourth year, I’m beginning the big write-off. Let’s hope this year I finish, as well.
Here’s an article that highlights the most common grammar mistakes. Listen up, people! The number one mistake is one that I am constantly finding when proofreading materials… Affect vs. effect. The easiest way to remember the difference between the two is that “affect” means “to influence.” So if you’re going to influence something, you will … Read More →
I was trying trying to keep up with the events taking place in Watertown at breakfast Friday morning, when I read this sentence on Twitter: Early Friday, a virtual army of heavily armed law enforcement officers was still going through houses in Watertown one by one in a search for the second suspect. I know the … Read More →
One of my (many) pet grammar peeves is the overuse of exclamation points. I’m not sure if the interrobang will improve things or result in more problems. The application of the interrobang is pretty straightforward. According to Wikipedia: A sentence ending with an interrobang asks a question in an excited manner, expresses excitement or disbelief … Read More →
I was very surprised and excited to find my name on the Fish Publishing shortlist for the Short Memoir Contest. This is the first writing contest I’ve entered in nearly 20 years, so this is quite a thrill for me. The short list has 81 entrants. The winner and nine runners-up will be published in the 2013 … Read More →
I may be one of the few people who enjoy receiving spam. Well, is it really spam if I signed up for all these emails? The daily Woot announcement always starts my day off with a chuckle. Kudos to the writers at Woot. I enjoy every silly description they create. Today’s gem: Lenovo 15.6 Dual-Core … Read More →