You Talking To Me? You Talking to Me?

I have to confess, I've actually never seen Taxi Driver. I mean, it came out when I was a kid.  And my parents weren't (and still aren't) movie fans. There was a family rule that no one (maybe it was just me and not my older brothers) could see a movie before my parents saw it and approved of it. This was before the days of PG-13. So it was either a G movie (which I would most likely be able to see) or PG (which was more up in the air...what exactly would be showing up on the screen could be all over the place).

So you can imagine my movie-going was severely limited. And certainly did not include Taxi Driver.

But I couldn't help but think of this iconic scene when I was thinking about repetition in manuscripts:

He repeats several lines here, most famously: "You talking to me? You talking to me?"

There are times when repetition works in a scene. If DeNiro didn't repeat himself here (in a scene that apparently was more off the cuff than on a script page), it wouldn't have such a lasting impact in the film world and be so recognizable.

So writers are well within their rights to have repetition in a scene. Even in a few sentences close together. After all, that's sometimes how people talk.

But other times, it seems as if the writer had forgotten the character had already said that. That's especially true when it's information (Bob's my uncle; have you met Bob, my uncle?) as opposed to a reaction (Oh my God. I can't believe he left. Oh my God. He's gone?).

And there's times I catch exact wording a few paragraphs apart. Those instances make me wonder whether there was some self-editing going on and the repetition didn't get caught.

So if you've gotten a manuscript back from me (or any other editor) asking about repetition, we do recognize it can be an effective storytelling tool. But hey, it's our job to make sure you're telling your story, not getting stuck in Groundhog Day!

My Fairy Tale Has A Fairy-Tale Ending

Come closer, child, and hear the wondrous tale I have for you.

Okay, I don't have a tale.  But if you are looking for a list of fairy tales, Wikipedia has got you covered.  I was kind of surprised to see The Wonderful Wizard of Oz listed as a fairy tale but Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood was more what I was expecting.

But today's blog post is about fairy tales.  Well, actually, it's about hyphenation, but fairy tales are more fun, right?



And it's Valentine's Day, so some of you curmudgeonly types may think love stories are fairy tales, but us die-hard romantics believe! But if you are looking for a new twist on the fairy tale, check these out:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Rapunzel

Red Riding Hood

Sleeping Beauty

These are super fun fairy tales, very quick and with a bit of a bite. There are several more available and more planned.

Another series to follow the fairy tale format is Laurie LeClair's Once Upon A Romance series. The series starts with the three King sisters and their happy-ever-afters.

Fairy tale is a noun, by the way (remember, this post is about fairy tales writing editing hyphenation, so back to business!). Yes, nouns can sometimes be two words.  (And as a noun, it's two separate words.)  "Read me this fairy tale," says the little girl in her annoying singsong voice.  

When it's an adjective, it's hyphenated: Everyone wants their fairy-tale ending. 


That little hyphen does such a big job: it changes how a word should be used. Sometimes it goes from the noun form (fairy tale) to adjective (fairy-tale ending). Sometimes it goes from the noun form (a jump start) to the verb form (we had to jump-start the car). Sometimes it goes form the verb form (we lifted off) to the noun form (after lift-off, we enjoyed the ride). And when it's missing, sometimes our brains can get caught in trying to decipher what was meant: there's a difference between the man operated machines and the man-operated machines.


Welcome to the English language, where nothing is simple. 

And Happy Valentine's Day!

(I couldn't resist these geeky Valentine's cards, so enjoy!)

Nodding...Shrugging...Blinking

No, that's not me trying to stay awake. It's me wondering why extra body parts are involved in those actions. Okay, maybe not extra body parts, but extra words.


Take, for instance, nodding. 
Is there any other body part that nods besides your head?

Nope.  

Can you shrug anything but your shoulders? (That's not counting shrugging a coat on or shrugging a shirt off)

Leo's got a shrug AND a nod going on here...

Can you blink anything but your eyes?

In these cases, her/his/my head, her/his/my shoulders, and her/his/my eyes act as filler words.  They aren't (generally) necessary for the reader to know what is going on. Maybe I should call them killer words, because I'm going to kill those little darlings for you. (Well, if I'm copyediting.  If I'm proofreading, I will just suffer silently.)

Alternate Reality Part II

As a follow-up to my Alternate Reality post, I wanted to see whether anyone is watching Counterpart on Starz.  Here's a snippet from the IMDB page for the show:

Counterpart is an espionage series about a mysterious world hidden beneath the surface of our everyday existence...

Howard Silk (J.K. Simmons) is a lowly cog in the bureaucratic machinery of a Berlin-based United Nations spy agency. When Howard discovers that his organization safeguards the secret of a crossing into a parallel dimension, he is thrust into a shadow world of intrigue, danger and double cross...where the only man he can trust is his near-identical counterpart from this parallel world. The show explores themes of identity, fate and lost love, posing the eternal question, "What if our lives could have been different?"

Sounds like fun, right? A whole world to explore, with yourself as a mirror to the what-if questions in life.

 I've loved everything I've seen J.K. Simmons in (Oz, Law & Order series, Juno) - although he's such a good actor that I haven't dared to watch Whiplash yet. And the characterization between the Howards is incredible: the way they walk, talk, hold themselves makes it easy to see which Howard is in the scene.  

Alternate Reality

You might have guessed (if you've ever thought about it before - and really, why wouldn't you?), that I was quite the reader as a kid.  I read the expected Little House on the Prairie series, The Wizard of Oz series, the Tintin comics (man, I loved those!). But girls grow up and want to learn about the world around them...and so I started reading science fiction.

Okay, it may have been because it's what my older brothers were reading (although I don't think we read the same books exactly). I know at least one of my brothers was a big Lord of the Rings fan, and (sit down before you continue) I didn't read them until just before the movies came out. I think we did have our Robert Heinlein in common, though.

I had other favorites that I couldn't pass up: Robert Silverberg and Anne McCaffrey come to mind as authors I read everything I could get my hands on.

But there is one book that came out in 1992 (well after my youth - I was in my twenties at that point) that really made me think about what a book was.  It was a book of short stories entitled Alternate Presidents. (I can hear some of you just groaning...or desperately wishing...for an alternate president or two in the last two decades.)

The introduction starts like this:

Playing the Game of WHAT IF?
One of the joys of science fiction is that it gets to ask the question What If?

I would say that any fiction gets to ask the question What If?  You, the author, take the reader on that trip into what-if. You provide that alternate reality where people can explore the what-ifs in the world, whether that's in the safety of someone they relate to or the eye-opening experience of relating to someone they never thought they could. Sometimes that alternate reality makes our reality more bearable; other times, it gives us a chance to see the world from a different point of view.

So on those days when the words just won't come, or those characters have minds of their own and won't do what you want them to, remember that you are providing your readers with the opportunity to explore the what-ifs in the world...and the world would be a poorer place without your gift to it.

Keep writing!



PS- I just checked Amazon to link to the book, and it seems there is a whole series of Alternate Histories: Presidents, Kennedys, Warriors, Outlaws, and Tyrants.  Keep your eyes out for them online or at your favorite book sales!

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!

What to Leave In, What to Leave Out

I've always been fascinated with obituaries. Even as a young girl, I'd read the obits in the paper.  Sometimes it seemed so sad when I read about someone who died young - you know, age 40 (yikes!).  It was amazing to me that some people could live to 80 or 90!

It was kind of cool to read about their families, who was left behind, and the things they did during their lifetime. A bit of inspiration, I guess, that families matter, the little things we do add up to big things, and what kind of an impact a person could make on the small circle of family and friends, and maybe even the larger circle of the community.

But I was always puzzled why they never really said how they died.  (Hey - I was young and wanted answers to all my questions - which, I suppose, hasn't changed much!) It was "suddenly passed away" or "passed away unexpectedly" or "at the end of a long illness."  At least with that last one, you could get some sense of what happened.

I thought that for history's sake, an honest obituary would be a historian or anthropologist's dream.  How many people died in the 1860s from war-related issues vs. farming accidents, for example? Or how many people died from suicides in the 1920s? 

But lately, there's been more of a trend to include the story behind the death, notably with drug overdoses.  Those rare pieces give the reader a peek into the life of someone caught up in a situation they couldn't overcome, to act (sometimes) as a warning to some or as a balm to others that they are not alone in their struggle to deal with a loved one's unsuccessful fight with their demons.  See the articles on Addiction, Suicide and Obituaries and Huff Post, for example. 

This rarity, unfortunately, does not seem to include celebrities: anytime someone halfway famous dies, you can bet you'll hear the truth behind it: Robin Williams: first we hear it was depression, but then his widow tells us he suffered from Lewy body dementia. Joan Rivers: complications from surgery.  Jim Henson: pneumonia.

Now it seems there's a new idea in town: the mean obituary.  I was reading this piece on CNN (When vengeful obits go viral, who's to blame? ) and read some of the words written about 94-year-old Wilma Black, who died December 22 in North Carolina.It was a paid death notice, written and placed by a family member in the Raleigh News & Observer's advertising section. Wow.

But I think the most compelling reason I like to read the obits is to hear about people: people like me, people not like me; people who made a wide impact on the community, people who lead a quiet life.  I want to hear about their stories.

And story is what draws me into a book: a way to exist in these characters' world, whether it's a sci-fi/fantasy location or a person struggling with life and love. So, authors, pay attention to your characters and make your readers care about them too!

Editors - the Writer's Natural Enemy

I want to make this clear: I didn't come up with the title of this post.

I was searching online (for what, specifically, doesn't really matter) and ran across this post on George R. Martin's website:

Editors: The Writer’s Natural Enemy

The author (maybe you've heard of him, or his Game of Throne saga?) gave a speech in 1979 where he talked about the importance of editors.  Now, his definition of editor may or may not still work here in 2016 (especially considering the rise of indie and hybrid authors and the general state of traditional publishing) but I found some of it highly amusing:

Left to their own devices, writers talk about only three things; the three most important things in the world.
They talk about money, they talk about sex, and they talk about editors.
Money and sex are things that most writers want and never get enough of. Editors are things that most writers don’t want and get all too much of. I’ve often heard writers ask other writers why there have to be editors in the world.
 
But later on, he has this to say: 

Yes, there are a lot of ways for editors to go wrong.
Fortunately, a surprising number of them go right. It never ceases to amaze me. What is a good editor like? A good editor offers you decent advances, and goes to bat with his publisher to make sure your book gets promoted, and returns your phone calls, and answers your letters. A good editor does work with his writers on their books. But only if the books need work. A good editor tries to figure out what the writer was trying to do, and helps him or her do it better, rather than trying to change the book into something else entirely. A good editor doesn’t insist, or make changes without permission. Ultimately a writer lives or dies by his words, and he must always have the last word if his work is to retain its integrity.


I hope that I am in that category of editor (copy editor and proofreader, really) for my authors. I'm not looking to be the enemy of the author - I want to be the champion, the cheerleader, the advocate, the supporter ("If you can't be an athlete, be an athletic supporter!" - bonus points if you know where that quote is from).

So, I am looking forward to a grand 2016, supporting and cheering on all my authors as they continue their careers and fulfill their writing goals and dreams.

 

Can You Teach Someone to Write?

Early in the week, I was sick.  And the hubby was on a trip, so I had to suck it up and take care of myself.  But all I planned to do was sit on the couch and take medicine, so it wasn't that difficult.  I couldn't focus on a computer screen, so I watched the big screen instead.  I got caught up on my General Hospitals (oh the intrigue! oh the double-crosses! oh the passion!).  But then I pulled out the big guns: Hugh Grant.

I was cruising through the On-Demand section from our cable provider and saw Music and Lyrics listed.  I almost picked that one, but then remembered another movie of his I hadn't seen yet, so I kept going.  And once I found The Rewrite, I clicked Watch and spent the next few hours with Hugh and Marisa Tomei in Birmingham NY.  It features some of my other favorite actors - Allison Janney and J.K. Simmons.

Hugh's character is a screen writer in Hollywood, years after his success, trying to get any job he can.  And right now, the only job he can get is as a screenwriting professor at this college. He plans to go there, do as little as possible and spend time on his own project.  But as you can imagine, it doesn't go that way.  Especially with his attitude that you can't teach writing.

So I got thinking: can you teach writing? Some must think so, based on all the classes, workshops, books, forums, conferences, and blogs out there.  Maybe teach is the wrong word.  Or maybe the way we think about teaching, like it's only rote memorization, might give one pause about whether writing is teachable.

On the other side of the coin, is writing learnable? Maybe some people can't grasp the concepts of plotting or resolution or risk/reward and therefore can't learn to write.

I've recently talked to someone who is interested in writing a novel.  They've never written before, but they have this story inside them they want to tell.  And it's a pretty intriguing concept.  So I gave her the basic advice: Write. Read about writing. Join a writer's group. Find a critique group.  Use your library resources - whether that's for research, other writers, writing resources, or books in the same genre to see what works (and what doesn't) in other stories.

Today's Tweet (hey, are you following me on Twitter?  Why not?  Find me @FaithProofing) gives a resource that's been out of print for years, but the blog author has found invaluable for playwriting.  The author of the book (The Human Nature of Play Writing) wrote a thing or two: the play The Jazz Singer (the basis of the first movie with sound and music) and some scripts for  Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion and Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner(one of my favorites...in all its incarnations).  So if you are in the market for another book on writing, check it out and let me know what you think.

Vox Article:

For the first time in decades, the best book ever written about writing is back in print

If It Were Even Possible

I know, I know...it's been practically forever and a day since I've last posted.  But as many of you may know, it's been a busy summer.  There was a college graduation, a wedding anniversary, a trip to move our son...and oh yeah, some awesome books to edit.

(And honestly, sometimes the best place to keep track of what I'm up to is on Facebook - so go ahead and like my page.  Go on, go like it: The Atwater Group _)

Yes, it's been a crazy busy summer, and it's not quite over - not the summer part and not the crazy busy part either.  I thought I'd have a week "off" to work on some professional development (classes, professional reading, etc.), but that week got swept up in last-minute projects.  I have small hopes I still might carve out some time before August is over, so it's still possible at this point.

And, as writing is NOT my strong suit (hey, that's what YOU guys do, not me!), it's gone to the bottom of the list of things to get done.  In other words, it hasn't gotten done.  But I've thought of a few things to share with you, so I'm hoping to get those thoughts down on paper, so to speak (or on the blog) and get back into a semi-regular posting schedule.

Awhile back, I ran a contest on a mystery phrase.  No one knew what it was until the year was over and I announced the "winner" of the contest.  I couldn't think of a good contest for 2015, but about by June, I was wishing I had picked another mystery phrase. I saw this particular phrase at least once per manuscript for about a month: if it were even possible.  It was getting to the point that it wasn't even possible for me to see this phrase without going a little crazy.  It wasn't so much that one author kept using it; it was that multiple authors were using it.

So, do you have phrases you think you overuse? Or just phrases that are overused in general?

Your Editor is an Idiot

Okay, maybe your editor isn't an idiot, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone...occasionally...might think so.

I belong to the EFA (that's the Editorial Freelancers Association to you - not to be confused with Essential Fatty Acid or Egyptian Football Association or European Film Academy). A benefit of joining this association is the online discussion list, where editors go to ask questions of one another and once in a while, share funny stories or general chit-chat.

Just to give you an idea about what we talk about, in the past two days, there have been 19 emails (and counting) debating whether half-eaten (with the hyphen) or half eaten (without the hyphen) is correct usage in a particular sentence. 

These are my people, people.

So what does this have to do with your editor being an idiot?  Well, when editors (or me, at least) make suggested changes to a manuscript, we are doing it with a voice inside our head (and you writers thought you were the only ones with voices telling you what to do, huh?).  We I automatically know what something should be (capitalize the South when you are talking about the area of the country but keep it lowercase if you are going south on the highway) or what it possibly should be ( the author probably means to have the character exit the door, not excite it - because, really - yuck!).  But there are times when we I are just not sure, so we I ask: did you mean Where we going or Where are we going here?  In this instance, the dialogue could go either way; after all, sometimes people do just ask Where we going and not Where are we going - so is it a deliberate choice by the author or is it a missed word in the sentence?  

And I suppose it is possible...just possible...that you think your editor is an idiot for even asking the question, because the answer is so obvious (well, to you, anyway).  But we are the ones who obsess over whether or not to hyphenate half eaten so you don't have to.

Just deal with our idiot questions...we'd rather look like idiots in front of you than have you look like idiots in front of your readers.

I'm So Green

Okay, I'm not really green.  But I was trying to think of something to prove my point.  But before I get to my point, here's what led me to my point:

The entry in Merriam-Webster:
Nonplus (also nonplused; nonplussed also nonplused; nonplussing also nonplusing; nonplusses also nonpluses)
:  to cause to be at a loss as to what to say, think, or do 
:  reduce to a state of total incapacity to act or decide :  perplex, baffle, stump
<this turn of events nonplusses me — J. R. Perkins> 
 <nonplussed by the disclosure — Newsweek>  
<for a moment the girl was nonplussed — A. R. Williams>

What really gets me is how the examples give absolutely NO help in reinforcing the meaning of the word.  It's like I tell you I'm so green without you having any idea what green is.  

Unless, of course, you are this guy.  Then I totally know what you mean by green:

So, anyway, back to my point.  My point is nonplussed is one of those words that might be misused because there might not be good context for the reader (or the writer!) to know what is really meant.  I recently came across this exact scenario in a manuscript and I asked the author if nonplussed (at a loss as to what to say, think, or do) was really the word they meant to use because I could see the character reacting a different way.

I've had instances where an author used a word and I was sure the word shouldn't be used that way.  But when I looked it up, there it was: some fourth or fifth (or sixth or seventh) definition that allowed for that particular word to be used the way the author intended.  And I learned a new way to use an old word.  

Guess those dictionaries (and those editors!) are handy, huh?

 

Since You've Been Gone

Okay, that post title maybe could be read as "Since I've Been Gone" considering it's been so long since I've actually posted on a regular basis.  But I've been busy working (to which the hubby can attest) with occasional breaks for playing hard:

I went ziplining! (Back when there was greenery!)

Road trip to Denver included a visit to Casa Bonita

So that's my excuse...

I wanted to share something but first we have to talk about this meme that's made its way around not too long ago:

{And I've just spent thirty minutes looking and it's nowhere to be found}
{After a few days, I decided to try to find it a different way.  Time spent looking: five minutes.  Geesh!}

Here's a writing exercise: write a scene revolving around the sentence, “She told him that she loved him,” adding the word “only” before different words. You can check out some of these posts to see one author's take on the exercise (here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).

Let's do the same exercise with since and because.  In my copyediting, I tend to suggest because over since when there's a relational thing going on: because this, that happened.  I suggest since is better used as a notion of time passing: since then, this happened.  I know that in speech, we are less apt to use the words that way, but there are plenty of instances in the exposition where the change is a good thing. So, on to the exercise: this time we'll switch out the since for because and see how the sentence changes meaning. 

Since you've been gone, I read all the time.
Because you've been gone, I read all the time.

Since you've been gone, we've had a party.
Because you've been gone, we've had a party.

Since you've been gone, I've never felt better.
Because you've been gone, I've never felt better.

Or, to borrow Kelly Clarkson's words:
But since you've been gone, I can breathe for the first time


But because you've been gone, I can breathe for the first time

Alright, readers: got any more good ones to share?

2014 Mystery Phrase Update

Way, way back in January (you remember January, right? well, if not, don't worry - the next one is right around the corner) I awarded the 2013 Favorite Goof and briefly mentioned the 2014 contest.  And here we are, at the beginning of the last month of 2014 and it occurred to me that I haven't given you any updates!

My mystery phrase (it's still a mystery to you!) didn't show up as often as I thought it would - just 21 times in the 100+ titles I've worked on so far.  But it was weird how it would show up in bunches: 5 times in January, 3 times in August, and 3 times in October.  Throughout the rest of the year, it was just once or twice a month.

We'll have to see how December pans out - and what I decide the "prize" will be!

The Black and White Truth of Story

Somewhere in my Internet travels, I clicked on a link (like we all do), and landed up here.  Apparently, someone had lots of time on their hands and wanted to make a point.  And I think they make it well.  The article talks about staging scenes for films, but I think there's a case to be made for staging scenes for books as well here.

Harrison Ford and Alfred Molina (yup, the same guy from Chocolat)

Now, I am not a huge fan of Raiders of the Lost Ark (I know, I know - I should be, but I missed the movie mania when I was 12 and therefore did not have it as a part of my cultural upbringing).  I've seen it, but it was probably ten or more years after it was released that I finally got around to seeing it.  And it might have even been on something like TNT, so it was all cut-up and "formatted for television." (Ick.  Not the best way to see any movie, especially one you haven't seen before.)

But I was absolutely mesmerized by the first ten minutes (that's all I allowed myself; otherwise I would have watched the whole thing instead of getting back to work).  Without dialogue, without color, and with a new soundtrack, your eyes are drawn in. I understood the drama; I could feel the heat of the jungle; I could see the dangers and feel the excitement.    

It made me think about how authors can use staging, not visually, but with description (yes, that dreaded "Show, don't Tell" mantra).  How those details can give the reader the truth of the story or how it can just seem like recycled plots.  How those mannerisms can make the reader identify with the character: believe what they believe, feel what they feel, find themselves in the character (even if at first glance the reader and character are complete opposites). 

So check out the link and if you've got the time and inclination, watch the whole film (yup, the entire movie in black and white and no dialogue).  See if you are drawn in; notice how the camera cuts away or draws out a scene.  (I noticed it took three minutes to actually see Harrison Ford's face! It felt like forever!) And think about how to create that tension and anticipation in your manuscript.

Something You Ought To Know

Gather around, children, for today's lesson.  It's something you ought to know about aught.

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was the turn of the century.  Amazing things happened:

1900: Kodak Introduces $1 Brownie Cameras: The Brownie camera was the first hand-held camera that was cheap enough and simple enough for even children to use, making photography accessible to the masses. (Now we take pictures with our phones...it's so simple even a child can do it. And in return, the masses have given us photographic proof of the weirdness of people )

1901: First Nobel Prizes Awarded: A pacifist at heart and an inventor by nature, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel was the inventor of dynamite. Not wanting to go down in history for creating such a deadly device, Nobel created a will that left the bulk of his fortune to the establishment of five prizes (physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace). On December 10, 1901, five years after Alfred Nobel's death, the first five Nobel Prizes were awarded. (No relation to the Darwin Awards, but still kind of important.)

1902: The Teddy Bear Is Introduced. (I couldn't imagine my life without my teddy bear.)

1903: Produced by Thomas Edison but directed and filmed by Edison Company employee Edwin S. Porter, the 12-minute-long silent film, The Great Train Robbery (1903), was the first narrative movie, one that told a story. The Great Train Robbery's popularity led directly to the opening up of permanent movie theaters and the possibility of a future film industry. (And that masterpiece led to such gems as Showgirls and Sex Lives of the Potato Men - and I'm happy to say I've avoided watching at least one of those.)

1904:  New York City Subway Opens (the city wouldn't be the same without it, would it?)

1905: Freud Publishes His Theory of Sexuality (I ain't touching that one with a ten-foot pole.)

1906: Kellogg's Starts Selling Corn Flakes (ever see The Road to Wellville?)

1907: First Electric Washing Machine (thank goodness we don't have to take the wash down to the river anymore!)

1908: Three Year-Old Pu Yi Becomes Emperor of China (proving that not only does a toddler rule the home, he can rule a country).

1909: Plastic Is Invented (and where would we be without plastic? I mean credit cards, of course.)



But something else happened, too.  It wasn't the 1880s or the 1890s anymore.  It was the 1900s now.  So a new word was needed to talk about the decade.  Okay, maybe not a new word (it's been around since 1821 at least), but one that probably didn't get used too often: aught. The aughts, plural :  the ten year period from 2000 through 2009, 1900 through 1909, etc. (Surprisingly enough, there are six other definitions for aught.)  

And now that we've gone through our own turn of the century, we get to revive the use of aught when we talk about those years between 2000 and 2009.  Can't you just hear some old-timey voice saying, "Back in aught eight, I danced in Beyonce's video for 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),' so I know how to dance, you pipsqueak."

Toein' the Company Line

Back in my former life, I worked in a marketing department.  One of my duties was to update this binder with marketing procedures.  I never quite appreciated one of those marketing procedures until I started proofreading for a living: the corporate branding procedures.  (And I still flash back to the knowledge that PMS 312 is the correct color for the logo!)

But now, I have a deep appreciation for those branding procedures.  It's the way companies make sure they are represented the way they want to be out there in the world, whether it's in an ad, a blog, or in a book.

And so, dear reader and author, please remember when writing: there is a real reason to make sure those product names are correct in a manuscript.  For some reason, Apple products seem to trip up a lot of people.  The way they name their products is pretty consistent, but I've seen the names mangled up in some very interesting ways (often in the same manuscript). 

From the Apple Trademark website:
iPhone, iPad,or iPod, always typeset iPhone, iPad, or iPod with a lowercase i and an  uppercase P followed by lowercase letters. For iPod touch, always set touch with a  lowercase t. The name iPhone, iPad, or iPod should start with a lowercase i even when it is the first word in a sentence, paragraph, or title. Never set Mac in all capital letters. Use an uppercase M followed by lowercase letters.

And Twitter has some guidelines, and Google (they are really not fond of their name being used as a verb), and Microsoft, and the Boy Scouts, and Best Buy, and Walmart, and...well, you get the idea. So, it's time to toe the company line and make sure you use those names the right way.

Looking to Alter the Altar

Today's confusing word choice: alter vs. altar

An altar is a table or place which serves as a center of worship or ritual — often used with the to refer to the act of getting married.  Here's the altar at my little church at Christmas:

Sometimes people will talk about it a bit more figuratively:

A raised structure (such as a block, pile of blocks, pillar, or stand) on which sacrifices are offered or incense burned (as in the worship of a deity or of the spirit of a deceased ancestor) — often used figuratively to describe a thing given great or undue precedence or value especially at the cost of something else <He sacrificed his family life on the altar of career advancement.>


But when you use alter, you are performing an action - to cause to become different in some particular characteristic (as measure, dimension, course, arrangement, or inclination) without changing into something else  OR to become different in some respect :  undergo change usually without resulting difference in essential nature.

So if you want to see what happens when you alter an altar, here you go: 

The Tension I'm Feeling is Palpable and I'm Looking Forward to a Palatable Meal

Let's review:

 PALPABLE

 

And trust me when I say that searching images for this word can be a bit Not Safe For Work (or your delicate stomach).  Palpable is also something doctors talk about - as in, palpable tumors or bumps or cysts.  So I don't recommend looking too much at those pictures!

 PALATABLE

Here's a picture I swiped from my hubby's Facebook page (thanks, honey!) of a meal he was eager to dig in to.  I don't particularly find sushi palatable, but hey, he likes it...and so do plenty of other people.

When you are describing something yummy, delicious, or that will go down easy, PALATABLE is the way to go (think table, where you'd sit for some of that deliciousness.)

When you are describing something you can feel (either in reality or perception), PALPABLE is the way to go.  It's a cliche, but most often I see it used as the tension in the air was palpable.

Welcome to 2014, Year of the Horse

So, fifteen days in to the New Year, and this is my first post.  It's been a crazy time since the holidays (especially if you go back to Thanksgiving!) and it feels like I've barely had time to breathe, much less do all the holiday cheer!  You wonderful authors have given me such great manuscripts in 2013 and I'm looking forward to 2014!

Just to give you an idea of how busy you guys have kept me, in the last three months of 2013, I read over 1.4 MILLION words.  You guys know how to write! And then write some more...

I finished up the 2013 contest of Your Favorite Goof and the voting for the second half of the year ended on the 14th.  I'll be tabulating the results and announcing the winner in the next few days. 

I started the 2014 contest for the Mystery Phrase, and I've already had one show up in a manuscript.

One of my major goals for 2014 is to update my website.  I've been playing around with some programs to see what I like and what I don't; hopefully I'll make up my mind and get cracking on that project soon.

Here's to a happy, healthy, successful 2014!