Monday, April 27, 2015

I Hate Being Wrong!

I am not sure why I get so bothered by bad grammar and mis-spelled words, but I do. Love my dad, but his grammar needs some work. I'm not perfect at it (as was brought to my attention), but I do make an effort to be correct. Over the years I've worried about the mote of poor grammar on the home front, but recently, I discover that I've been carrying around a poor grammar beam! Yes, a beam.

Here it is: 'til is NOT a word, it is "considered a spelling error". The words, interchangeably used, are till or until. 

This is what Miriam Webster has to say: 


till (til) 1. up to the time of; until: to fight till death 2. before (used in negative constructions): They didn't come till today. 3. before, to: My watch says ten till four. ... Usage. TILL and UNTIL are both very old in the language and are interchangeable as both prepositions and conjunctions. ... TILL is not a shortened form of UNTIL and is not spelled 'TILL. 'TIL is usually considered a spelling error, though commonly used in business and advertising: Open 'til ten.

My deepest and most sincere apologies to anyone who has been victim to my ignorance!

Write on my friends, but do not write "'til".



Monday, April 20, 2015

"Pick a Fight with the Toughest Guy on the Team"

My husband likes to listen to sports/talk radio when he is in the car. Generally, I don't pay too much attention to it, but one day we were driving and the announcer, Ron Wolfley, said something that stuck with me. I apologize I don't remember the story, because I'm sure it was a good one (something about fighting). His brother told him to "pick a fight with the toughest guy on the team."

At first glance, one might question the wisdom in that, but I believe it's true. These are just a couple of things I learned from this:

First, if the guy we're picking a fight with is the toughest, we may reconsider our decision. It requires us to think about our choices. Perhaps gives us a chance to do something smarter.

Second, if we're going into a fight with the toughest guy, we dang well better be prepared. We should know our opponent and we should be training harder and working smarter every day.

Third, a fight doesn't necessarily mean face to face combat. It could mean the promotion we want, it could mean that book we want to write, it could mean being the best mom and wife, it could mean olympic medals, or it could simply mean we face each day, each challenge with a smile, determined to beat the toughest 'guy' on the team.

Write on my friends and may your challenges be a little lighter!

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Forgetting

My special needs daughter turned 14 yesterday. She'd been talking about her upcoming birthday for months. Sunday night I told her we were going to skip Monday and go straight to Tuesday. Her expression was priceless, almost as if she were trying to decide whether that was possible and was adamant that we not bypass her birthday.

In that conversation, my brain flew right over Monday and went straight to Tuesday, hence my forgetting to post here. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

How does that apply to writing? I knew you would ask... I'm a pantser (which means I don't generally outline), I let the story take shape as I go while having a general idea of where it will end up. The problem with not having an outline is that sometimes I forget where I was going with my story (and that comes from not writing every day, too). But thank goodness for creativity. My brain just comes up with something (and since I forgot, who knows, maybe it was what I intended in the first place). But seriously, I have found that even if I don't have a detailed outline, if I just have a page of what I imagine, it's very helpful.

The cool thing about that page or sometimes two is that it's a quick write, just the skeletal details flowing as fast as you can get them out. No need to worry about how things will happen or sensory things.

Are you a pantser or an outliner? Share a quick tip in the comments for how you outline (or don't).

Monday, April 6, 2015

It's Monday


I think it's safe to say that most people aren't fans of Monday. We lounge around, we play, and we are generally more carefree over the weekend, so it makes sense that getting back to our weekday routine isn't appealing.

Maybe it's that Easter was yesterday and Springtime is here that had me looking forward to a 'clean slate' this morning. What's on your routine that you can't live without? How about one thing you would change? One thing I like is the morning routine with my family, it's sometimes stressful, but it's a nice way to start the day. Another thing that I really appreciate is my 'list' and my 'Accountability Partners' who cheer me on.

On Mondays, we also post over on Five Pages, I posted about using verbs as nouns and how our writing is cleaner by using the verbs the way they were intended. If you haven't checked out Stephen Wilbers's book Mastering the Craft of Writing, I highly recommend it. Write on my friends!

Monday, March 23, 2015

My Top 10 Favorite Books

Everyone has their favorites, right? After you check out my list, please leave a comment with a couple of yours (because I'm always looking for good stuff to add to my To Read list).

Here goes (and you know it's subject to change, right?!):

1. The Book of Mormon/The Holy Bible* (I know these are two books, but they are both equally important to me.)

2. Jane Eyre* by Charlotte Bronte

3. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emma Orckzy

4. Edenbrooke* by Julianne Donaldson

5. Spirit of Rebellion* by Debbie Peterson

6. A Wrinkle in Time* by Madeleine L'Engle

7. Pride and Prejudice* by Jane Austen

8. The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

9. The Hobbit/Lord  of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien

10. Drawing Out the Dragons series by James A. Owen


*these are the ones I have read at least twice

Monday, March 16, 2015

K, so...

Affectionately referred to as cheese (queso) by my sister and her family.

It's also used to preface a lot of the dialogue that goes on around me. Last week and this week over on Five Pages of Something, we have been talking about ways to eliminate unnecessary words. I think sometimes we are so used to hearing wordy phrases that we incorporate them in our writing.

This is A-OK, so... It really is only OK in your drafts. Today's readers want the heart of the matter, not a lot of fluff leading up to your point.

Here are a few examples from grammar expert Richard Nordquist's post 200 Common Redunancies:

free gift

add an additional

artificial prosthesis

armed gunman

Write cautiously and precisely, but Write On my friends.


Monday, March 9, 2015

Overcoming Obstacles

I'm writing this post for myself. Kind of a little pep-talk. I'm in a slump. A hole I can't seem to dig myself out of. I'm filling my jar with pebbles rather than rocks. It's dragging me down.

What do you do to get out of a slump?

Here's my A-list, my rocks if you will (in order of importance to me):

Husband and Kids
Spiritual Growth
Church responsibilities
ANWA responsibilities
Business responsibilities

My B-list, or pebbles (in no particular order):
Dinner
Cleaning the house
Reading
Laundry
Down Time
Grocery Shopping
Mail
E-Mail
Blogging (hah!)
Lunch
Exercise
Bills

Unfortunately, things like grocery shopping and laundry aren't easily put off, they demand my time. And in their defense, I let them. I have talked about putting A-list things first or designating them with an "A" when I send my list to my Accountability Partners. But, I haven't done that yet. It mentally exhausts me to think about it. I told you I was in a bad spot. The only person that can get me out of it is me and God. Perhaps if I trust more in His grace and think less of my own frailty and neediness, maybe I can pull it together. Maybe. (My faith is lacking).

Here is what I want you to know: God knows you and loves you. Whatever the challenges we face, He is there to help us through. I see His hand daily in my life and in the lives of my family. Rely on Him, get through your challenges, your slumps, your dark night of the soul, and like a bright light, Write On my friends. We can do this!


Book Sale!

Need some sweet romance to sigh your way through the holidays? Here you go: Merry Christmas and happy wishes for however you celebrate!