Blog

  • Over Edited?

    Over Edited?

    Is it possible to over edit a piece? If you removed all instances of the ‘to be’ verb, ‘ly’ words and filter words, are you left with an over edited piece? Or a polished gem? I ask because I wrote 1200 words last night without using a single ‘ly’ word, ‘to be’ verb or filter… Read more

  • Eliminating Filter Words

    Eliminating Filter Words

    There’s a great post about filter words penned by Cecilia Lewis that I found thanks to a comment Aeryn Rudel left on my previous blog entry. (Thank you Aeryn and thank you Celia!) I’m adding filter words to my list of words that need to be sought out and destroyed. I was dithering over a few of them yesterday.… Read more

  • Next up on the Copyedit Hit list is…

    Next up on the Copyedit Hit list is…

    I have killed all three hundred and eighty words that end with ‘ly’. Yes those dreaded adverbs. In doing so, I found an alarming pattern. Here’s my top  ‘ly’ offenders, in order of assassinations: suddenly, actually, exactly and  finally. Now I know what to watch out for. What are yours top offenders? What ‘ly’ words sneak… Read more

  • Killing Adverbs

    Killing Adverbs

    Have you killed any adverbs lately? It’s very cathartic. Just run a search for ‘ly’ and see what you find. Why am I doing this? I bought a book on copyediting to aid me in my quest to copyedit my own work. Deleting words ending in ‘ly’ or replacing them with stronger verbs, claimed the… Read more

  • Selfie

    Selfie

    Everyone is doing it. Thought I’d post a selfie in case you were wondering  if the curly locks shot is really me. It is though my hair obviously doesn’t do curls without intervention. And I don’t intervene unless it’s a really special occasion and the bride demands it. Read more

  • Thank you for all the likes, follows, views and reads

    Thank you for all the likes, follows, views and reads

    Dear Reader, I hope you enjoyed your Sunday. Perfect weather we had in my corner of the world today and I hope in yours too. Today’s post is not a story post, and I apologize that I can’t provide your daily dose of fantasy fiction. I ran into some technical issues with the audio book… Read more

  • What did you read this week?

    What did you read this week?

    Well what did you read? I really do want to know. So leave me a comment and let me know. I’m asking this because I love stories and I’m always looking for something new to read, some new author’s works to fall in love with (in audio of course). I did mention somewhere on here… Read more

  • Divination – A Sonnet for Your Thoughts

    Divination – A Sonnet for Your Thoughts

      Divination And I lay sleeping, weaving a dead dream, a late nightmare where we played tarot cards stacked in two piles on headstones that gleam. In the cemetery where we played bards, by the waning light of the sun, singing, chanting spells, drawing cards that spoke of woe. Their words echoed across the graves,… Read more

  • Breaking Curses

    Breaking Curses

    Sarn has a problem. His eyes glow green all the time due to a magic that’s slowly chewing away at his sanity. Sarn indentured himself to pay for his younger brother’s education and was assigned to the Rangers at sixteen. In the four years since then, he has built a tenuous and often strained relationship… Read more

  • Attack of the Sluginator

    I am the sluginator. I terminate slugs in my garden with extreme prejudice and a lot of stomping. Nothing like squishing those things before they eat my plants. It’s quite cathartic. If you have a slug problem like I do, don’t fret. You don’t have to buy nasty chemicals and risk poisoning the food you’re… Read more