Sunday, December 31, 2017

2017 In Review

Maybe you've realized it (and maybe you haven't), but I have not been very social on social media in 2017.

I have not blogged.

I have not Facebooked.

I have not tweeted.

Well, some of that is technically not true.  I had 4 (yes, just four!) blog posts in 2017 (and that includes this post).  I kept up with my title milestone listings and occasionally checked my professional Facebook feed. I have several tweets set up to automatically repeat, so those have gone out.

But really, I have not been social on social media.  I had plans to be.  I had spreadsheets of ideas to write about, resources to share, and I wanted to spread the love for my authors. But alas, those plans did not come to pass.

Part of that is because I was busy. So very busy. With all good stuff, I swear. Like the 6.7 MILLION words I read for work this year. Like the God knows how many books for fun I read this year. A trip to Colorado to soak in the hot springs and see our son. A trip to Bermuda for a beautiful wedding. Some church projects (like my annual Basket Bonanza and other leadership roles). Like volunteering for my community as we build our library (it's currently in the basement of our town hall). Like coordinating chapter meetings for the editorial association I belong to, the EFA.

But as 2017 winds down, it's time to think ahead.  I'm going to try to up my game on the social media front - maybe it won't be as much as it was three or four years ago, but it needs to be more than it was in 2017. Another ambitious goal for 2018 is to update my website again.  I've got tons of new covers to put up, and it's always fun to give it a facelift! I'm thinking of joining RWA as an associate member and checking out their convention (okay, it doesn't hurt that it's in Denver so I'll get a chance to hang out with my son a bit more!).

What are you planning in 2018?

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Not Every Why is a Question

I can hear my grade school teacher's voice talking about the 5 W's: what, who, where, when, and why.  (And just for fun, there was the accompanying H: how.) And her voice tells me that those are all questions that need to be answered.

So, one might think that every time you use one of those in a sentence, you are actually asking a question...and questions need question marks, right? Wrong. Well, right, really, but there's always some sneaky things going on to make things confusing.

And that confusion almost always happens with wondering: I wonder why; she wondered when; he wondered who.

Let's play with some samples, shall we?

ORIGINAL: The cat curled up tighter on my lap. A steady purr filled the quiet of the room. Without warning, the cat jumped straight in the air and landed on my bare legs, claws out and tail all bushed up in fright. I wondered why he did that?

That last sentence has the wrong punctuation at the end. It should be a period. The subject of the sentence is I; the verb is wondered; the rest is a description of what was pondered. But overall, the sentence is a declarative sentence, not a question - so no question mark for you!

OPTION 1: The cat curled up tighter on my lap. A steady purr filled the quiet of the room. Without warning, the cat jumped straight in the air and landed on my bare legs, claws out and tail all bushed up in fright. Why did he do that?

With a quick change of wording, we now have an actual question: why did he do that? The reasoning to put it in italics is to indicate internal thought, so the I wondered is now implied; the reader will assume it's the narrator (or the character in the book) having this thought or internal conversation (I know I'm not the only one who talks to myself...admit it - you do, too!). 

OPTION 2: The cat curled up tighter on my lap. A steady purr filled the quiet of the room. Without warning, the cat jumped straight in the air and landed on my bare legs, claws out and tail all bushed up in fright. I wondered: Why did he do that? What would have caused such a reaction?

In this example, the use of I wondered and the colon gives the writer the opportunity to ask a series of questions...and real questions get question marks, so it's okay to use them in this type of structure. And each question starts with a capital letter (Chicago Manual of Style 6.61: When a colon introduces two or more sentences…the first word following it is capitalized.)



ORIGINAL: The dining room table was cleaned. Well, except for the two place settings, pillar candles, and the small vase of roses. She wondered when he had found time to get the flowers?

As in our first example, the noun (She) and verb (wondered) are easy to spot; the rest of the sentence is a description of what she wondered about. So the ending punctuation should simply be the period (period, no questions!).

But we could also modify it to become an actual question:

OPTION 1: The dining room table was cleaned. Well, except for the two place settings, pillar candles, and the small vase of roses. When he had found time to get the flowers?

Or create a statement:
OPTION 2: The dining room table was cleaned. Well, except for the two place settings, pillar candles, and the small vase of roses. He obviously found time to get the flowers.


ORIGINAL: He wondered who ate his apple pie?

In this very simple situation, it's the same as before: the noun (he) and verb (wondered) are easy to spot. And again, it should have a period at the end, not a question mark. If you want to keep that question mark (maybe you are emotionally attached to it...I make no judgements [well, maybe I do]), here are some options:

OPTION 1: Who ate my apple pie? Bob looked at Faith.  Surely she knew I wanted that last piece.

OPTION 2:  Someone ate his pie; he wondered who would have done such a thing.

(Yes, Faith would have eaten that last piece of apple pie--it's one of her vices! So stop wondering and stop using question marks when you don't need to!)






Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Writer's Groups

I feel it's safe to say one of the most common pieces of advice for writers is to join a writer's group.  (Heck, I've probably said that myself!).

Now, what you are looking to get out of a group may vary from person to person (or even at different points in your own career), but I can tell you without a doubt that even just a casual group of writers, willing and able to provide general support and guidance, can be invaluable. As an editor, I belong to an editing association, and the internal discussion group there has helped me immensely - just with general knowledge and help with specific questions.

Depending on your needs, you might find a local group where you meet together and review each other's manuscripts. Or learn about storytelling vs. plotting. Or learn about world-building or marketing techniques. 

But now you are not limited to just physical meeting groups - there's the Internet!  The big, wild, wonderful Internet! You can join all sorts of forums, websites, chat rooms - find your fellow geeks or diehard HEA believers, your companions through the seedy side of mystery and mayhem. 

And then there's Facebook...those groups are powerful!  There were over 1 Billion (yes, that's Billion - with a B)  people using Groups to talk with like-minded people.  Surely there's a group or two you as a writer should belong to! 

So, what writer/writing Facebook Groups do you belong to? Or know about, but for one reason or another you are not a part of?

I know of a few: Author Support Network, Indie Author Group, Trauma Fiction.

But I am sure there are a ton more out there.  So, what groups do you belong to? Let me know in the comments!

Friday, January 27, 2017

Pass the Eggcorn, Please!

Yum...eggcorns.  I love'em - don't you? Oh wait, do you even know what an eggcorn is?


When an egg meets that special acorn it's been waiting for (oops...I've been reading too many romances lately - sorry about that!).  Actually, it's a word or phrase that sounds like and is mistakenly used in a seemingly logical or plausible way for another word or phrase either on its own or as part of a set expression.  Maybe you've seen my previous posts (here and here), but eggcorns continue to fascinate me.

There's the list on Wikipedia you can look at (I've seen for all intensive purposes instead of for all intents and purposes but I have yet to see on the spurt of the moment instead of on the spur of the moment - thank goodness!). But it's rather short.

For more fun with eggcorns, you can check out the Eggcorn Database.

Apparently 2015 was the year of the eggcorn, because that's the year Merriam-Webster added it to its dictionary and everyone was writing about it: NPR asked their listeners to submit their favorite eggcorns and settled on the top 100 .

And Time magazine's contribution on the subject mentioned one of my favorites: the you've got another thing coming taking the place of you've got another think coming. (That one is actually on my style sheet setup, I've seen it so often!)

So what eggcorns have you served up lately? Or which ones have you come across on the wild, wild Web?