Best Christmas Card Photo Ever? – Jon Acuff thinks so:
Source: jamiliajean.com via Jon on Pinterest
Humor
Decoding Publishing Terms
I looked back some of my Tuesday blog posts and thought I might be getting too serious, so I wanted to lighten it up a bit with some practical, helpful information that should help you navigate and understand the complicated world of publishing.
Here are words you might hear in relation to publishing or describing a particular book and its real meaning:
“A must-read” – Acquisitions editor …
My Amazing Fake Day
I've been intrigued by some blogs and articles about how Facebook makes people depressed because everyone else's lives seem so perfect. I hope that no one thinks the sum of my life is reflected in two recent Facebook posts that my uncle killed a bear on our family farm in Southern Virginia and here in Northern Virginia, we are host a family of walking stick bugs. I took great comfort in the …
HAL 9000 Writes a Book
Since most readers of this blog are writers, this might just ruin your day.
A company called Narrative Science started as a research project with Northwestern University computer science and journalism students. (The Medill School of Journalism is arguably the best in the country) It was called StatsMonkey.
StatsMonkey was a computer program that automatically generated a usable text recap …
Travel: The Businessman versus the Businesswoman
I thought I'd have a little fun today with the differences we experience in our house when getting ready for a business trip.
My husband preparing for travel:
1.) Make sure hair is freshly cut.
2.) The night before, pack bags. Wife has already ironed shirts and will be folding them to pack.
Me preparing for travel:
1.) Wash all clothes down to the last item so family will have clean laundry …
Misused Words and Phrases
The English language is full of persnickety quirks, the most despicable of which are buzz words. Words and phrases we’ve decided work better than plain speech. Why say what you mean when you can just toss out a phrase that says what you want, but in such a vague and convoluted manner than people spend so much energy figuring it out that they can’t challenge you? Genius! Or how about those words …
Astounding Technology Breakthrough!
The secret of making a video go "viral."
Makes one wonder if this is for real....
Redundant Redundancies
We all say them occasionally but should avoid redundancies in writing. I still see redundancies in query letters, and sometimes even in published novels -- and I don't mean an endearing speech marker a writer has bestowed upon a character. Here are just a few:
tiny little
add up
very unique
nodded his head
fiction novel
advance warning
close proximity
safe haven
hurry up
lag …
Some Days….You Gotta Laugh
Karen Ball
Some days…you just gotta let go of any hope of accomplishing what you want and laugh!
I’ve had a week and a half of days like that. I promise we’ll get back to catalyst next week, but today, let’s laugh together. I received the following from a writer friend, and all I can say is, “See why it’s so important to edit what you write??”
These sentences appeared in church …
Spell Checking
Shortly after I became a book editor, I was working on a nonfiction manuscript that focused on Mormonism. When I finished editing, I ran the spell check. Imagine my reaction when the dear spell check wanted to replace every Mormon with moron and Mormonism with Moronism!
Since those long ago days, spell check has invaded countless emails, files, and text messages. As much as we appreciate it …