There are words we are not supposed to overuse. My favorite word to not overuse is 'that'. As a general rule of thumb, if you have a sentence with 'that' in it, read it out loud twice - once with 'that' in the sentence, once with it omitted.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
That is a problem
Posted by Stephanie at 6:00 PM 2 comments
Labels: Writing
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Enter the lion tamer
- Worn inappropriate underwear?
- Met a person and thought they were just too good to be true but known/hoped they weren't?
Posted by Stephanie at 8:25 PM 1 comments
Labels: Adventures, The Lions
Sunday, March 28, 2010
1000 Places to See Before You Die
This is one of my favorite books. 1000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz. Because of its weight, it is what I like to think of as a coffee table book, rather than a travel guide book. As in, if I were to travel somewhere, I would not bring this book on the trip with me. I would leave it on my coffee table.
Posted by Stephanie at 12:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: If you read often and read widely READ THIS, Notebooks
Saturday, March 27, 2010
The one that started it all
This book is the reason I believe no matter how cool they make ebooks, they will never completely replace the real deal.
Posted by Stephanie at 12:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Marguerite Henry, Some objects resonate the past, YA Recommended reading
Friday, March 26, 2010
Make me believe you
- "Love is a first"
- "I want you to want me"
- "Like the red sea, she split me open"
- "I'm not going to write you a love song"
- "When a heart breaks, it don't break even"
Posted by Stephanie at 12:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Writing
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Canned worms, a la mode
Have you ever heard the phrase, "That's going to open up a whole new can of worms" ?
Posted by Stephanie at 5:45 PM 0 comments
Labels: No good can come of this
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Random awesomeness
Check out the new business card. I mean, look at it. It means business. You may notice I'm going through a bit of a phase where I am into ninjas :)
Posted by Stephanie at 6:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Ninjas
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
A challenge
My home is overrun with notebooks. I can’t get to sleep unless I have one on the nightstand. If I don’t have one, it is inevitable that I have some random idea pop into my head right before I fall asleep and I am faced with one of two options:
Option 1: Try really hard to remember it, fall asleep, wake up knowing I needed to remember something but am not sure what, spend all day trying to remember, have it pop up again in my memory right before I fall asleep.
Option 2: Write it down somewhere.
The thing is, once I have something written down, I fall into that headspace of, “Its down, its safe. No worries.”
Now, keep in mind I am tired, the lights are off and the idea probably isn’t that great. Sometimes, its GET FABRIC SOFTENER. Others, I'll flip through in the morning and find a page that says things like: rabbit, he farted, push them.
?
In a nutshell (help, I'm in a nutshell), I leave myself a random trail of bread crumbs and hope I can follow them come daylight.
Some days, I’ll read something and think, “What a great idea, sleeping Stephanie solved the problem waking Stephanie couldn’t.” Other times, what I have written is 100% indecipherable (see attached photo). Either way, sleeping Stephanie enjoys it - one morning I woke up with my notebook in one hand, a pen in the other. I gripped them so tight, my arms were stiff the next day.
Anywho, even if doing this makes me seem like a bit of a nutso, it works for me. I'd recommend it for anyone having trouble sleeping, remembering things etc.
Today’s challenge:
I scanned something I wrote down one night and was totally excited about. If I hadn’t been so tired, I would have got up and put it in my computer right away. Instead, I wrote it down and went to sleep. I woke up, grabbed my book and saw what you see attached to this post: a bunch of scribbles.
10 points to whoever can first translate my sleep-scrawl ;)
Posted by Stephanie at 6:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Notebooks
Monday, March 22, 2010
... she chortled
There are an amazing number of words used to replace the word said. These words can be both a blessing and a curse. The right combination and you feel like you are living in the book. Over-application and you want to stab your eyes out with a pen knife. At least I do.
Today, I tackle chortle.
Let’s be realistic – I have perhaps chortled twice in my life, at least one of these times, I am sure tequila was involved.
I have only ever seen one textbook-defined chortle I can be certain wasn’t just a jolly laugh or a merry chuckle. It was Thanksgiving, my niece was three and she was eating blueberry pie.
Well, she wasn’t eating it; she was shoving it in her mouth. Without chewing or swallowing. She was beginning to resemble a small rodent when she looked up and met my eyes.
I don’t know if it was the look of disgust on my face or the simple joy of pie, but she opened her mouth and laughed. It was one of those big belly laughs that make everyone in the room join in hysterical laughter until tears run down their faces. Her eyes made those cute little rainbow shapes, she was smiling and around all that pie, her laughter had a sort of loud gurgling quality. If I weren’t laughing, I probably would have thrown up. That, my friends, set the bar pretty high for all other chortles wishing to follow.
My recommended usage of the word chortle: 1 per story. More if pie is involved.
What do you think?
Posted by Stephanie at 6:00 PM 0 comments
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Its all about the he said she said
- I don't know how to put a table in blogger. If anyone knows how, I'd appreciate a heads up - I'll give this list a bit of a tidy (the OCD in me goes crazy that the list isn't alphabetical and perfectly lined up).
Posted by Stephanie at 7:32 PM 0 comments
Labels: Its all about the he said she said, Listmania, Notebooks
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Hit me
- See a Vegas wedding. (Didn't happen)
- Convince the happy couple to let my husband and I be witnesses. (Self-explanatory)
- See the Freemont Street Experience. (Pretty cool)
- Say, "Hit me," while gambling. (Still have no idea where this applies)
- Say, "Let it ride while gambling. (This phrase also escapes me)
- Wander through a CSI set. (No dice)
- Meet someone famous. (Actually happened - Alexis Bledel - Gilmore Girls, Hello, MY FAVORITE SHOW!)
- Go up the Eiffel Tower, see the Bellagio water show. (Did both at the same time)
- Have a daiquiri in one of those Eiffel tower drink bottles. (Stood in line for half an hour. Didn't have ID on me. Got my husband to buy it. Because I didn't have ID, the guy wouldn't sell to my husband. Had to go into the Paris casino and skulk around while he waited at the bar (on advice from the street vendor). Never did finish it. Had the world's worst headache the next day. Avoid at all costs!)
- Go to White Castle (have an adventure to do so if necessary). (Didn't go. Another trip to the States will be required for this purpose alone)
- Buy air. (The more I think about it, the shadier it seems - didn't do it, no regrets)
- Pull a crank on a slot machine. (Some of the older machines have cranks, but they don't pull. I suppose they're not fast enough to meet most people's gambling needs)
- Ride on a roller coaster (Did this. My first one. Pretty much forced my husband to go on it with me. As the man behind us yelled, "There's no time to be scared!" - As we crashed around and spun upside-down for no good reason, "Who's idea was this? That's right, it was yours; you big, dumb idiot," which I later shared with my husband. A passerby though I was verbally abusing him. My bad. I clung on so tight, I had bruises on my shoulders and shins. Still can't sleep on my side or cross my ankles)
- See someone being arrested. (While waiting in line to take the bus back to the hotel from Freemont Street, a man jaywalked in front of a cop car. The cop got out, started patting him down, wandered around writing things down, then handcuffed the guy. Thats when the state trooper showed up. There was a minor dispute between the two law-enforcers. Then another cop showed up. We got on the bus. A man asked the bus driver, "So, is it really an $1100 fine for jaywalking?" - The bus driver replied, "Oh yeah, Las Vegas drivers are crazy. We'll kill you," (WE'LL??!!!???), "Its a $200 fine. I hit a guy once. I paid it. He was here, then he was over there. Its your fault if you get run over. $200 is nothing. I paid it.")
- See Elvis. (I walked by him on the street. He was in street clothes, but it was obviously The King)
- See a pimp. (This wasn't on my list but I did see one wandering around a casino. It was either a pimp or Kid Rock. Hard to tell the difference.)
Posted by Stephanie at 6:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Adventures, Listmania, Vegas
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Eviction notice
Without a doubt, the current economic situation has lead to some terrible outcomes, the worst being lost jobs for people in Canada and the US.
- The bubble-bath section of the drug store has undergone a major downsize. I don't even know if my favorite bubble-bath is made anymore.
- Book publishing is down. If I am being realistic, my chances of ever having a book published are 0, or at least very poor (the last thing anyone should ever accuse me of is being realistic). ;)
- Skyrocketing hay prices. Prices are so high, the stable where I kept my equine pals (from now on referred to as The Lions - a pet name I gave them when we were young and wild) will no longer be operating. That's right folks, my boys are being evicted.
- Minimal mud over extended periods of time.
- Room to run.
- Sturdy barricades to ensure The Lions will remain in their allocated "room to run."
- Shelter from wind, rain, sun.
- Delicious, dust-free hay.
- Experts on-site who will give friendly, helpful advice / drive me to the hospital if I fall off while riding and forget who I am.
- Absence of experts who give snotty quips that make me feel bad about my horses / myself (ex. "Well, you can tell your horses are used to getting their own way..." - Of course they are used to getting their way. I'm a student who has no time to ride and am not that great of a rider when I do. Some things are best left quietly ignored - like me lying in the dirt.)
- Sunshine and lollipops as accepted forms of payment.
Posted by Stephanie at 7:39 PM 0 comments
Monday, March 15, 2010
Fishies!
Meet my new friends - The Goldfish Quints! - stage left (I had 'stage right' earlier but my artistically inclined sister informed me stage left and right is based on where the actor is standing, not what the audience is seeing *insert vague memory of drama club here*).
Posted by Stephanie at 8:40 PM 0 comments
Labels: The Fish
Saturday, March 13, 2010
All writing is good writing
All writing is good writing is good writing. It may not all be fit for human consumption, but I feel it has its place.
Posted by Stephanie at 11:15 PM 0 comments
Labels: frustration, Writing
Friday, March 12, 2010
On Villains
Here is my thinking: Villains are not villains because they were born to be evil / forced to become evil. Or, at least, not all are.
Posted by Stephanie at 6:00 PM 0 comments
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Every good story needs a ninja
I remember reading somewhere about the ninja cliche. I can't remember it verbatim, but it goes something along the lines of: unless you are writing a story about ninjas, don't toss one in just to make things exciting. Ninjas are exciting. Boring stories cannot be made so by the addition of a ninja.
Posted by Stephanie at 6:00 PM 0 comments
Friday, March 5, 2010
Backup! We need backup!
So here's the story. At the writers group I attended last weekend, I learned something interesting. If you are writing a romance, there should not be more than 10 pages in a row where the hero and the heroine are not together. Thinking about it, this makes absolute sense. It is after all, a story about the relationship between two people.
Posted by Stephanie at 6:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Writing
Thursday, March 4, 2010
The Little Red Hen
In the real world, the Little Red Hen does not eat the bread.
Posted by Stephanie at 6:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: In the midst of life lessons, Writing
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Writer's group
I have joined a writers group. A group of writers have allowed me to join their group. Whichever way you want to look at it.
Posted by Stephanie at 7:44 PM 0 comments
Labels: Writing
Monday, March 1, 2010
Avatar etiquette
There is that unspoken / spoken rule that Canadians, in general, are polite.
Posted by Stephanie at 6:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Avatar, How to be a Canadian