Sign in Subscribe

Topic

Writing

A collection of 128 issues

Back to what passes for normal

It was a long November. I haven't finished my novel, though at 58,000 words it's at the end of chapter nine, with three more chapters to go. I'm going to finish this one, read the first book, then this second book, and then

"Retweet" enters the dictionary

Telegraph: Woot! Retweet and sexting enter the dictionary "Retweet", "sexting" and "cyberbullying" are officially words, according to the latest edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. Other new words in the centenary anniversary of the dictionary are "woot" (used in electronic communication

Choose Your Own Adventure

Something sparked an old memory of reading Fighting Fantasy role-playing game-books when I was a teen. The game-books are "choose your own adventure" stories written in the second person ("You walk through the forest" etc.). The story is broken up into numbered paragraphs each ending in

The English Language

Telegraph News: Hunt for 100 events that shaped the English language From the Anglo-Saxon invasion of the fifth century to modern-day waves of immigration, the English language has been shaped by countless episodes in history. Now The English Project, a charity dedicated to promoting the language, is compiling a list

Out of ideas

It's that time of year, when the faint shadow of November stirs and reminds you, in a chill whisper, that you have NO IDEA what to write for your NaNoWriMo novel this year. This will be my seventh year of NaNo'ing. This is a problem I

Writeworks in progress

Working on a new short story for our post-NaNoWriMo group, the Fictional Authors. Reading Joe Hill for lessons on how to write creepy. I finished Heart-Shaped Box in one day and plan to devour 20th Century Ghosts next. Got the first line of it in the middle of the night

"Crotchety" is a real word

BBC News: The book that influenced all others. Samuel Johnson, born 300 years ago this week, wrote one of the most important books in the English language. So what made his dictionary so special? "Dictionaries", said Samuel Johnson, "are like watches: the worst is better than none,

Project round up

You never know what you have going on until you get it all in one place. Knit: My Eris cardigan is still languishing, sleeveless, and waiting for the hem to be finished. Must complete this one by the end of the year! Hold me to that, maybe I need a

State of the Write

My writing goal is to finish a short story every other month, and come up with a cool idea for NaNoWriMo. The current short story in progress is for our post-NaNo group, my second attempt at a first person perspective, and I have the beginning and end written, but not

Post NaNoWriMo writing

After NaNoWriMo 2008, a bunch of us wanted to continue the year-long writing experiment we tried last year. The group has a shared premise for stories, and can borrow each other's characters to create interweaving stories. Last year we had a fantasy premise, which was hard for me.

Follow me on Mastodon