06.23.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:09 pm by Administrator
After months of boredom and frustration, I have finally decided it is time to give my day job the old heave-ho and concentrate on freelancing full-time. Early last week, I hit my breaking point, said “screw it” (to paraphrase one of my regular clients), and gave my notice. No more struggling to lower my professional standards to meet unreasonable workloads. No more thankless toil. No more sitting in a crummy office right next to the smelly bathroom. No more regular paychecks …
Honestly, I haven’t gotten my mind around that last bit yet, but somehow I’ll get used to it.
My daily schedule is about to get a whole lot easier, at least for a while. I’m already 100 percent happier than I was a week ago at this time. The creative juices are flowing again, and I’m looking forward to the challenges and opportunities ahead of me. I’m also looking forward to having time to blog more regularly.
In my perfect-world fantasy, I will get up early every morning, meditate and do some qigong, make coffee, work for several hours, run errands, take a walk, have lunch with friends, work in the garden, write something terrific, prepare a delicious meal for my family, maybe watch some TV, and then read a good book until I fall asleep.
Okay, I know that will last about two days (maybe two and a half), but it is a fantasy. In the real world, I will most likely need a part-time job to fill in the looming income gap, and of course there still won’t be enough hours in the day to do everything. I’m gonna give it a damn good try though.
And by the way, if you’ve been thinking of hiring a freelance editor or writer but have put it off for some reason, now is the time to act! I work hard, I do a great job (without taking myself too seriously), and I’m super nice (ask my friends). Best of all, I am totally available after July 1.
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06.09.09
Posted in Editorial Musings at 10:18 pm by Administrator
Last week I wrote of my skepticism about the alleged electronic reading revolution. (In case you weren’t paying attention: The devices are expensive; no matter what fancy model you buy, it will most likely be obsolete in a few years; and it might develop “endearing glitches” or stop working at some point.) I do like to be fair though, so I thought I’d look into some possible advantages to the electronic readers.
I looked at the features of Amazon’s Kindle. The device looks nice. I might even buy one if I could afford it and if I weren’t still so skeptical about them. (Apparently Amazon is not going to send me one for free, but I remain open to the possibility.)
So what looks good about Kindle?
1. It allows you to search through the book you’re reading, other books in your library, or on the Web. I would love this feature, I think (assuming it works as well as they say it does).
2. There is a built-in dictionary. Another handy feature, but I do hope you would be able to get periodic updates (for free) when new words/meanings are added to our language. The updates would probably be available; the “free” part I’m not so sure about.
3. You can change the text size or zoom in on an image.
4. You can add notes and highlights—and remove them later.
5. I suppose this is an advantage, but it actually makes me sad: “You’ll never need to bookmark your last place in the book, because Kindle remembers for you and always opens to the last page you read.” Tell me, what true reader doesn’t enjoy a beautiful or unique bookmark?
6. It’s lightweight and thin. The Kindle 2 weighs in at 10.2 ounces and is about a third of an inch thick.
7. It holds over 1,500 books. You could carry your entire library everywhere you go. You could also lose your entire library in a heartbeat, but Amazon says they back up everything you download so you can download it again if you need to.
So have I changed my mind? No. I remain skeptical. The features are intriguing, but the drawbacks are serious, especially for those of us who can’t plunk down over $350 for the privilege of reading.
Still, if Amazon is reading this, please feel free to send me a complimentary Kindle loaded with British mysteries (some P. D. James would be appreciated) and young adult books (something like The Olympians or Inkheart series). If I love it, I’ll tell everyone.
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06.06.09
Posted in Writer's Resource at 2:39 pm by Administrator
This is an inexpensive reference that can help us all sort out tricky spelling and usage issues. Yes, there are larger usage guides and “normal” dictionaries that offer the same service, but Bryson’s Dictionary tends to tell you only what you need to know right now, which is a blessing for those of us with a lot of work on our desks. This book is also fun for browsing. Just this morning I was reminded how to spell “Natty Bumppo” and “caduceus.” I also learned of a Welsh village that has the longest name in Britain. No, I won’t write out the name (trust me, it’s really long), but I will tell you it begins with the letter “L.” Look it up!
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Posted in The Word at 2:37 pm by Administrator
These words sound alike but look and function very differently.
Allowed is the past tense of the verb allow, meaning “to permit” or “to assign as a share or suitable amount” (please consult your dictionary for other meanings).
The dog was allowed to sleep on the bed.
She allowed three hours for the drive to the airport.
Aloud is an adverb meaning “with the speaking voice.”
Please read the poem aloud.
Putting it all together:
She allowed her children to read joke books aloud only after supper.
(Definitions taken from The Merriam-Webster Dictionary.)
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06.04.09
Posted in Newsletter at 8:34 pm by Administrator
Most of us don’t write the way we speak. Accomplished writers do write with a “voice” though, a unique tone or flavor that brings character and life to their writing. It’s all about the words they choose and how they put them together. Your writing voice develops with time and practice and will change tone when appropriate; you will use a different voice in a business report than in a children’s story, for example.
What makes a “good” writer’s voice? Well, it depends, and I’m not here to tell you exactly how you should write. We’ve all heard horror stories of editors who flatten writers’ voices, removing anything unique or interesting about the writing. I certainly wouldn’t want to do that, but I will give you some general tips for finding and developing your voice.
1. Be clear—Leave no doubt about what you mean. Don’t make your readers slog through your sentences two or three times in search of meaning and sense. Realistically, only two readers will make that effort: your mother and your editor.
2. Be accessible—Far too many writers confuse “voice” with “fancy words and complex phrasing.” There is a time and place for high-falutin’ words and convoluted sentences, but a romance novel packed dense with such stuff will be intimidating and uninviting to the average reader.
3. Be consistent—This is the tough one. Every sentence, every word you write must fit your voice (unless you are deliberately departing from your own voice for a specific reason). Even a single phrase written inexplicably in another voice can be jarring and confusing for the reader. I learned this the hard way in a writing seminar when one out-of-voice sentence in my essay produced laughter among my classmates—not the effect I was hoping for!
So, keeping these thoughts in mind, how does a writer further develop a voice? Simple. Read the work of writers whose voices you admire and then write, write, write!
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06.02.09
Posted in Editorial Musings at 10:29 pm by Administrator
Printed books are on the way out, so make way for electronic reading devices!
This, according to an article in Monday’s Washington Post, is one of the messages to come out of this year’s BookExpo America, held in Manhattan last weekend. Sounds like truly bad news for old-fashioned publishers, brick-and-mortar bookstores—and book lovers.
Now I’m not a Luddite by any means (although I probably could be if I set my mind to it), and I wouldn’t mind trying one of those Kindle thingies if someone gave me one for free. I do, however, have some reservations about the predicted Kindle Revolution.
1. Cost—Reading can be expensive these days, especially if you buy new hardcover books at full price. But reading can also be cheap (used paperbacks) or free (libraries). The latest basic Kindle costs $359—not cheap, and a far cry from free. Will lower-income folks—or even some middle-income folks—be priced out of reading?
2. Obsolescence—Say you plunk down a few hundred dollars for your digital reader today and load it up with some great titles you would like to read over and over again. Will you still be able to read those books in ten years? Or will that nifty reader be a relic full of books in a file type that is not supported by the new and improved devices? I own two books that are over 100 years old, and I can still read them (well, there is one minor complication; they’re both written in ancient Greek). I worry that in the future good books will become obsolete within a decade of publication.
3. Technical troubles—Unless they’ve suffered catastrophic damage, printed books always work. You just open the cover and read. Technology doesn’t always work. If you’ve ever spent an hour trying to make your computer do something that should take three minutes, you know exactly what I mean. The thought of having my reading time dependant on technology makes me more than a little uncomfortable.
I’m trying to be open-minded, and I suppose the electronic readers have their benefits. I could have a lot more living space, for one thing. But somehow I can’t imagine a gadget providing the same sense of comfort, memory, and home as my shelves full of books. Perhaps I’m destined to become an old fogey, clinging desperately to my printed books. If so, book fogies unite!
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