Writing Gooder

It’s the holiday that only comes once every four years… LEAP DAY!  How are you celebrating leap day?

And does anybody know what the chances are of being born on leap day?  Everyone keeps saying 1 in 1461, but I doubt that.  That just takes the number of days in four years and assumes an equal number of babies are born on each day.  But that can’t be true because the number of babies born depends greatly on the season (Fall has the most birthdays I think).

Our favorite authors have done both good and bad in their lives, outside of their works. Whether you believe their works should be judged separately from their lives is a different debate, but in this series of blog posts, I’ll give you fun little facts that some of the most famous writers in history have done in their lives. A halo means a good act, a pitchfork means bad. And remember that everything listed is completely subjective and wholly ridiculous, so don’t take anything too seriously.

Halo: Poe was said to have loved his brother and the two visited each other as often as they could. After his brother’s death, he was stuck with a debt that nearly landed him in prison.

Pitchfork: Poe was often considered a drunk and his death is sometimes attributed to alcohol.

Halo: Poe enlisted in the military when he was 18, saying that he was 22. He served highly for a few years until…

Pitchfork: …he was sent to West Point, and after some issues with his family decided to leave by purposely receiving a court-martial.

Pitchfork: Poe married his 13 year-old cousin, Virginia Clemm, when he was a striking 27 years old. It is said of this time that the fact they were first cousins and were married was not unusual, but that she was so young was. 

Some of you may be indifferent to the name of Vladimir Nabokov. But I certainly know their are quite a few YWSers out there that would care deeply about this issue. Nabokov’s last work, an unfinished manuscript entitled “The Original of Laura”, was to be burned due to the deathbed request of the author. His son Dmitri holds the piece securely in a bank vault, not quite positive what he intends to do with it. You can read the original story here.

Now it seems that Dmitri Nabokov has toyed with the literary world, playing them on a string, at some times declaring outright his intentions to burn it and at others suggested that it might be reasonable to keep it for posterity. It’s a dangerous and bitter game he plays. You can read part two here.

So in the end, what do think he should do? Honor the deathbed request of his father? Or keep the work intact so that we may learn more about the author and his works?

YWS is really great for critiquing, but if you’re perhaps looking for some more opportunities to get creative feedback here are a couple of sites:

Critique Circle offers critiques for all members new or old, allowing you to get wonderfully detailed crits. Positives: Guaranteed critiques, even for newer members. They also have some nice templates to work with. Negatives: Wait times and a point system that virtually forces you to critique often and in depth (which may not be a bad thing after all).

Critters is another critique site, but more dedicated to the science fiction, fantasy, and horror fields. Positives: Very in depth and professional members as well as wonderful guides on how to critique and take criticism. Negatives: An extremely long wait for critiques. It’s best to only submit your best and most polished pieces.

My friend told me about this today. I don’t know about you, but I think this is beyond funny. The basic principle is to take Garfield and all of his dialogue out of the comic. The result is amazing.

Garfield Minus Garfield 

I lost The Game. Are you playing The Game?

Hah, I just learned about The Game yesterday. I’m not seriously into it, but I think it is hilarious and I really love internet junk like that.

And I bet I  just made a multitude of people lose!  My only question is, how can you make someone lose the game without loosing the game yourself?

My face twitched a little when I first read the topic of the article. Typos….a good thing!? Most of you will know I’m heavy on the line-by-line editing, which is my name for fixing typos, grammar errors, and anything else that is within the line. Take a look at this:

“Writers enjoy a multitude of tools to exert power over their readers. If you’re a purist, you’ll despise the very thought of the weapon I’m about to offer:

Sometimes typose suck you in.

You couldn’t stand that, could you? I fully admit—it makes me cringe with pain too. But if you want an engaged audience and you use them sparingly, typos and misquotes can really draw your readers in.”

Read More Here! It’s worth several chuckles.

wrong side of the tracks -Before there were cars, trains were an important means of transportation. Of course, pollution wasn’t a big concern so when a train rolled by, heavy black smoke and soot went with it. Usually the wind blew the black smoke to one side of the tracks and only the poorest of people would endure living in that hard to breathe environment. No one wanted to be on “the wrong side of the tracks.”

And now you know!  See where other commonly used phrases came from here.

After a recent conversation I had with Hunter…I just could not resist posting this.

I edited this because apparently it’s not showing up?  It works fine on my computer but if it still doesn’t show up here’s the actual link for it: see picture here!

“An eye for an eye only end up making the whole world blind.”

-Mahatma Ghandi