In the army whenever anyone told a story about a past experience related to a tour of duty or past military event we'd like to preface it jokingly with, "There I was." Well, there I was at the VA hospital just as I mentioned in my last blog and since it was my first time I really didn't know what to expect, or so I told myself. Given the fact that it was the Spinal Cord Injury / Disorder Service unit I guess in some ways I expected to see lots of wounded veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who had suffered injuries resulting in loss of the use of some or all of their limbs. While there may have been some of these folks in the unit the ones I encountered were either older and therefore from previous wars/conflicts like WWII or Korea or Viet Nam, and some were there due to diseases that had nothing to do with their service but because they are veterans, there they were.
One such gentleman was in the hospital due to advanced Multiple Sclerosis (MS) symptoms. His name is Chris and turns out he has a wife and children and lives in a burb not too far from where I live. Despite his advanced stage of MS, Chris could talk and talk he did. I have to say that he was one of the most upbeat and happiest people I've ever met. He didn't have the use of his hands or legs, had to take a drink from a tube suspended in the air and he had to raise his head to get his mouth around it, but damn the man was happy. He talked proudly of his service, his family and his life. We shared stories about children and life in general - he's only a few years older than I am.
I went to the Hines VA with the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) for the first time and I was so pysched about going there to help others when in fact Chris helped me. I'm going through a particularly unpleasant time in my life with the breakup of my second marriage and the disappointment that such a situation naturally invokes, but talking with Chris I realized that life really can be enjoyed regardless your situaiton. I've actually been fairly upbeat throughout most of this ordeal. I've often said to people that despite my pending divorce I feel very blessed. I'm not in Iraq being shot at and I'm not an unemployed mother with five children to feed. I have a stable job and my daughter is almost finished with her undergraduate studies - and despite the debt from the student loans I've been able to make most of my ends meet. So, there!
I'm ready to send out my first fiction query letter for a novel I just wrote - and rewrote, and rewrote, and did yet more rewritting - and you know what? I think it's pretty damn good. Doesn't mean the publisher will think so but that's okay. I enjoyed writing so much that the journey of writing the book was a reward in and of itself. Now, I won't lie to you. I want to have my novel published as well as the next one and the one after that and so on and so on, but I'm happy with the work I've done so far. At a previous Love is Murder Conference (LoveIsMurder.net) our guest author, David Morrell (http://www.davidmorrell.net/) gave an awe inspiring speech about being a writing and the state of the current publishing industry. His main advice - or at least a key part that I took from his speech - If you are going to spend a year of your life writing something you may as well be happy with it and proud of your efforts whether or not it results in a publishing contract. He's right! Yes, we writers want that publishing contract and we salivate at all the bones publishers and agents throw our way, but in the end our happiness comes from being proud of what we write, not the contract itself.
So, find happiness in everything you do or at least one thing you do and if that doesn't work, go visit a VA Hospital, or any hospital, or shelter, or whatever, to remind yourself just how good things really are in terms of your own humanity and your individual life. We'll save the current economic woes for another blog.
If none of the above work, put on any version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens or It's a Wonderful Life. Talk about therapeutic!
For more information on the Hines Spinal Cord Injury / Disorder Service unit here's the link:
http://www.hines.med.va.gov/pat/sci.htm
Showing posts with label novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label novel. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
THE APOSTROPHE'S BUBBLY NATURE By Robert W. Walker
The lowly apostrophe loves to shine but seldom takes center stage, while damn it, it’s the hardest working, least understood mark, and yet it retains its bubbly nature. How does the apostrophe keep its positive outlook and energetic, even electric personality? Let’s us just consider how put upon it is and yet it just keeps on giving….The most maligned, misused, misunderstood grammatical mark of them all and also the smallest yet self-made and courageous.
“Why do perfectly intelligent people, even geniuses, have a problem seeing the apostrophe much less using it properly?” --St. Ignatius of Tyrn 1402…
“Some of my best friends act as if they’re going under the knife when confronted with the use of the apostrophe….” --Dr. Lucius Derleth, MD 2004…
“Little’s changed since the MONKs figured out SYMBOLS for us all to ABIDE by in order to communicate in writing….” Author Robert W. Walker, 2007…
First reason the apostrophe causes confusion: it’s (that is IT IS) used for two separate and distinct purposes that’ve absolutely NADA to do with one ’nother. The simplest use is to show ownership in THINGS. Things he, she, we, they, us, him, her, them and Joe OWNS.
Ownership as in HIS THINGS or Joe’s things….ought to end all confusion there since if you SEE the connective tissue of ownership, like as if the apostrophe in ownership situations is a little arrow that points to what Joe owns. Joe’s Harley…Joe’s eyes…Joe’s girl…or Joe’s future. Who owns that future? Who’s hole is it anyway? Joe’s hole. He dug it. But it gets a bit complicated when it is not Joe or John or any name ending in a letter other than S….Damn, now what?
How do we deal with Phyllis’s stuff or James’ junk? Marcus, Jesus? Jesus and these others end in S but that does not make a noun or a name plural! ….if a name ends in S…then we’re looking at JESU’s if we put the apostrophe in the wrong place….pointing at the wrong letter….as in Phylli’s, Jame’s. Notice that if you don’t put the apostrophe pointing to the S, then you are cutting away at Jesus’ name! Another complication, it can be shown either way: Jesus’ or Jesus’s. In most modern usage we have dropped the double S for the sake of simplicity but my publisher WANTS it there thanks to the Chicago Manual of Style. All the same, there are not many names ending in S, so this should not be so hard for folks to follow.
The notion of single and plural plays havoc with people’s heads, however. People—or any GROUP designation like FAMILY already has PLURALness inherent, so adding the S can only mean ownership, not MORE plural. A green light doesn’t get any greener, nor does a plural word like jury get any pluralER…see? So it is the Jury’s decision and once again the apostrophe hugs the WHOLE word (like the whole name) and not an add on form….like Jurys’….which only works if you are talking about two or more juries…(unlikely).
But what of nouns that’re not names like teacher, lawyer, and aviator? Suppose you are talking about one lawyer’s briefcase? Then notice one lawyer ends with R….not S….while two lawyers’ briefcases shows the S on lawyer(S) see? So then it becomes: All of my teachers’ habits annoy me; or every one of my teachers’ habits annoy me. A single on TEACHER in that sentence CHANGES the meaning significantly. Again the issue of single\plural has a lot to do with where the apostrophe wants to fall…
Now the ownership thing ought be easy, folks! Ther’re only a handful of words in the whole freakin’ language that have OWNERSHIP built in already, like MY, MINE…His…Her…so these do not need the HELP of the lowly apostrophe. But Mike or Rob does if you’re’a speakin’a what Mike or Rob owns…so this is a major ‘juice’(use!) of the apostrophe. Another is to show emphasis as I did in de’ bad ‘joke’ around ‘juice’ buy nowadays this kind of emphasis calls for quotation marks or italics.
The second major ‘juice’ or ‘use’ of the ‘comma that leaps up atop words’ really screws with people’s heads, but I do not (don’t) know why it should. For instance, there’s an ITS that sits on the same plane as MY and his and hers, yours, mine, ours, theirs…for ownership built in is in ITS like MY. The only other IT’s in existence is a CONTRACTION….
Contractions ought be a simple affair. If you write this: ITS color is as strong as IT’s powerful….then you are using both ITS/IT’s in the same sentence. A good practice. Write TEN sentences using ITS and IT’s in same breath. “IT’s a smart dog that scratches ITS own fleas.”
Its\It’s is so instructive if you realize or see the pattern here. This is in a nutshell the two PRIMARY uses of the apostrophe. ITS, like HIS requires NO apostrophe ‘cause why? Because it has ownership built into IT same as Her. Whereas IT’s is two whole words shoved together, something American English loves to do, especially in dialogue. We all of us only learn if and when we see the connectiveness and the pattern of things—like words and apostrophes are like the pilot-fish following the shark. If you look REAL close, you’ll see that the apostrophe points toward what it modifies or changes. Tom is Tom but to modify Tom into changing from the subject of the sentence to what he owns as being the subject, Tom’s becomes necessary, so the subject becomes Tom’s lunatic brother… or Tom’s broken arm…
OK, hopefully ownership’s ugly head has been cut off thanks to this old grammarian’s ability to make it clear. As Stephen King’s illegitimate son, I think I can quote Dad faithfully by saying, “If you can’t make it sing, at least make it clear.” Apostrophes are your friend…a friend of the writer. Notice if I use an apostrophe, I can say A writer’s friend instead. How droll is it to read: The backdoor was squeaky and needed oil now. Much better to say, “The backdoor’s scream signaled years of neglect.”
Now onto the CONTRACTION in more detail. Read any one of my books and you’ll find people speak in contractions ‘cause we’re Americans. So if the apostrophe is not ON STAGE to show ownership, then it’s doing its second, UNRELATED job of POINTING out where in a word we’ve TOSSED out letters! The lowly lil’ apostrophe FILLS the GAPs, and sometimes these gaps are enormous. Don’t you see that the O is missing in DO NOT in Don’t so the apostrophe takes ITS place (not it’s--it is place)? OK, DON’t is too easy. ‘Cause ‘fraid we also speak in multiple contractions as in:
Mike would have loved to see Madeline’s upper body movement, but when he had attempted it, she clocked him so hard he had fallen into a coma.
Mike would’ve loved to see….etc. but when he’d etc…he’d fallen…etc.
I have used triples such as Mayn’t’ve, couldn’t’ve, wouldn’t’ve. NOTICE exactly the number of letters missing from these contractions: May not have…could not have, etc. So often the apostrophe is carrying the space of several missing letters, often four, five missing letters! Damn but this mark is strong….
So no longer do ya’ gotta’ wonder why a proper Britisher hates us for what we’ve done to the language. Much of it’s contractions as in “Wha’up?” from: What is up? So the apostrophe is a real workhorse! You can’t ignore it, can’t run from it, can’t hide. It’s ever’where its use is found and sometimes, too often, it’s used incorrectly. So WATCHA’ back and watch the signs as in Buck’s Gunshop.
All that said, in your novel use contractions liberally but never use an ownership apostrophe in a place where it does not ADD anything as in: The ocean’s floor….just ocean floor…or the Clock’s tower….if the Clock Tower works just as well…actually better. Ownership apostrophes help cut out long prepositional phrases as in this example:
After Paul stepped through the house’s front door, he heard the door’s hinges creak behind him as it closed.
Rather better to say: After stepping through the door, Paul heard it squeaking as it closed.
G’luck with grammar’s lowliest mark!
Rob Walker (www.robertWwalkerbooks.com
www.myspace.com/robertwwalkerbooks
www.Murdermustadvertise.com
www.Loveismurder.org
“Why do perfectly intelligent people, even geniuses, have a problem seeing the apostrophe much less using it properly?” --St. Ignatius of Tyrn 1402…
“Some of my best friends act as if they’re going under the knife when confronted with the use of the apostrophe….” --Dr. Lucius Derleth, MD 2004…
“Little’s changed since the MONKs figured out SYMBOLS for us all to ABIDE by in order to communicate in writing….” Author Robert W. Walker, 2007…
First reason the apostrophe causes confusion: it’s (that is IT IS) used for two separate and distinct purposes that’ve absolutely NADA to do with one ’nother. The simplest use is to show ownership in THINGS. Things he, she, we, they, us, him, her, them and Joe OWNS.
Ownership as in HIS THINGS or Joe’s things….ought to end all confusion there since if you SEE the connective tissue of ownership, like as if the apostrophe in ownership situations is a little arrow that points to what Joe owns. Joe’s Harley…Joe’s eyes…Joe’s girl…or Joe’s future. Who owns that future? Who’s hole is it anyway? Joe’s hole. He dug it. But it gets a bit complicated when it is not Joe or John or any name ending in a letter other than S….Damn, now what?
How do we deal with Phyllis’s stuff or James’ junk? Marcus, Jesus? Jesus and these others end in S but that does not make a noun or a name plural! ….if a name ends in S…then we’re looking at JESU’s if we put the apostrophe in the wrong place….pointing at the wrong letter….as in Phylli’s, Jame’s. Notice that if you don’t put the apostrophe pointing to the S, then you are cutting away at Jesus’ name! Another complication, it can be shown either way: Jesus’ or Jesus’s. In most modern usage we have dropped the double S for the sake of simplicity but my publisher WANTS it there thanks to the Chicago Manual of Style. All the same, there are not many names ending in S, so this should not be so hard for folks to follow.
The notion of single and plural plays havoc with people’s heads, however. People—or any GROUP designation like FAMILY already has PLURALness inherent, so adding the S can only mean ownership, not MORE plural. A green light doesn’t get any greener, nor does a plural word like jury get any pluralER…see? So it is the Jury’s decision and once again the apostrophe hugs the WHOLE word (like the whole name) and not an add on form….like Jurys’….which only works if you are talking about two or more juries…(unlikely).
But what of nouns that’re not names like teacher, lawyer, and aviator? Suppose you are talking about one lawyer’s briefcase? Then notice one lawyer ends with R….not S….while two lawyers’ briefcases shows the S on lawyer(S) see? So then it becomes: All of my teachers’ habits annoy me; or every one of my teachers’ habits annoy me. A single on TEACHER in that sentence CHANGES the meaning significantly. Again the issue of single\plural has a lot to do with where the apostrophe wants to fall…
Now the ownership thing ought be easy, folks! Ther’re only a handful of words in the whole freakin’ language that have OWNERSHIP built in already, like MY, MINE…His…Her…so these do not need the HELP of the lowly apostrophe. But Mike or Rob does if you’re’a speakin’a what Mike or Rob owns…so this is a major ‘juice’(use!) of the apostrophe. Another is to show emphasis as I did in de’ bad ‘joke’ around ‘juice’ buy nowadays this kind of emphasis calls for quotation marks or italics.
The second major ‘juice’ or ‘use’ of the ‘comma that leaps up atop words’ really screws with people’s heads, but I do not (don’t) know why it should. For instance, there’s an ITS that sits on the same plane as MY and his and hers, yours, mine, ours, theirs…for ownership built in is in ITS like MY. The only other IT’s in existence is a CONTRACTION….
Contractions ought be a simple affair. If you write this: ITS color is as strong as IT’s powerful….then you are using both ITS/IT’s in the same sentence. A good practice. Write TEN sentences using ITS and IT’s in same breath. “IT’s a smart dog that scratches ITS own fleas.”
Its\It’s is so instructive if you realize or see the pattern here. This is in a nutshell the two PRIMARY uses of the apostrophe. ITS, like HIS requires NO apostrophe ‘cause why? Because it has ownership built into IT same as Her. Whereas IT’s is two whole words shoved together, something American English loves to do, especially in dialogue. We all of us only learn if and when we see the connectiveness and the pattern of things—like words and apostrophes are like the pilot-fish following the shark. If you look REAL close, you’ll see that the apostrophe points toward what it modifies or changes. Tom is Tom but to modify Tom into changing from the subject of the sentence to what he owns as being the subject, Tom’s becomes necessary, so the subject becomes Tom’s lunatic brother… or Tom’s broken arm…
OK, hopefully ownership’s ugly head has been cut off thanks to this old grammarian’s ability to make it clear. As Stephen King’s illegitimate son, I think I can quote Dad faithfully by saying, “If you can’t make it sing, at least make it clear.” Apostrophes are your friend…a friend of the writer. Notice if I use an apostrophe, I can say A writer’s friend instead. How droll is it to read: The backdoor was squeaky and needed oil now. Much better to say, “The backdoor’s scream signaled years of neglect.”
Now onto the CONTRACTION in more detail. Read any one of my books and you’ll find people speak in contractions ‘cause we’re Americans. So if the apostrophe is not ON STAGE to show ownership, then it’s doing its second, UNRELATED job of POINTING out where in a word we’ve TOSSED out letters! The lowly lil’ apostrophe FILLS the GAPs, and sometimes these gaps are enormous. Don’t you see that the O is missing in DO NOT in Don’t so the apostrophe takes ITS place (not it’s--it is place)? OK, DON’t is too easy. ‘Cause ‘fraid we also speak in multiple contractions as in:
Mike would have loved to see Madeline’s upper body movement, but when he had attempted it, she clocked him so hard he had fallen into a coma.
Mike would’ve loved to see….etc. but when he’d etc…he’d fallen…etc.
I have used triples such as Mayn’t’ve, couldn’t’ve, wouldn’t’ve. NOTICE exactly the number of letters missing from these contractions: May not have…could not have, etc. So often the apostrophe is carrying the space of several missing letters, often four, five missing letters! Damn but this mark is strong….
So no longer do ya’ gotta’ wonder why a proper Britisher hates us for what we’ve done to the language. Much of it’s contractions as in “Wha’up?” from: What is up? So the apostrophe is a real workhorse! You can’t ignore it, can’t run from it, can’t hide. It’s ever’where its use is found and sometimes, too often, it’s used incorrectly. So WATCHA’ back and watch the signs as in Buck’s Gunshop.
All that said, in your novel use contractions liberally but never use an ownership apostrophe in a place where it does not ADD anything as in: The ocean’s floor….just ocean floor…or the Clock’s tower….if the Clock Tower works just as well…actually better. Ownership apostrophes help cut out long prepositional phrases as in this example:
After Paul stepped through the house’s front door, he heard the door’s hinges creak behind him as it closed.
Rather better to say: After stepping through the door, Paul heard it squeaking as it closed.
G’luck with grammar’s lowliest mark!
Rob Walker (www.robertWwalkerbooks.com
www.myspace.com/robertwwalkerbooks
www.Murdermustadvertise.com
www.Loveismurder.org
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Clutter By Morgan Mandel
I'm getting a desk delivered today. I hope. You never know about these things.
So I'm sitting in my living room which looks so nice and empty and huge, because that's the room the delivery guys have to go through with the desk.
I'm thinking I wish the room could be like this always. No clutter. Lots of room for the dog to run around in. I've moved the rocking chair, exercise machine, other odds and ends into various areas of the house, but they'll need to come back later.
Last Saturday I spent over 8 hours clearing out clutter and organizing my writing life, yet there's so much still left I don't know what to do with. I'm a saver. It's difficult for me to part with anything at all that has any kind of sentimental value, but I try.
That said, I have decided when I sit down at my new desk I will only be surrounded by items related to pending and future writing endeavors, not what's already happened.
Reminder notes even though I have the task feature on my phone and computer, printed copies of articles, receipts, bookmarks, business cards, copies of manuscripts, you name it - they all take up space. For the time being, I've tamed them, but for how long?
Strange, how in this age of computers I'm still so inundated by paper in my life.
Does anyone else have this problem?
Morgan Mandel
www.morganmandel.com
http://bookplace.ning.com
http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com
http://mysteryturtles.blogspot.com
http://www.myspace.com/morganmandel
So I'm sitting in my living room which looks so nice and empty and huge, because that's the room the delivery guys have to go through with the desk.
I'm thinking I wish the room could be like this always. No clutter. Lots of room for the dog to run around in. I've moved the rocking chair, exercise machine, other odds and ends into various areas of the house, but they'll need to come back later.
Last Saturday I spent over 8 hours clearing out clutter and organizing my writing life, yet there's so much still left I don't know what to do with. I'm a saver. It's difficult for me to part with anything at all that has any kind of sentimental value, but I try.
That said, I have decided when I sit down at my new desk I will only be surrounded by items related to pending and future writing endeavors, not what's already happened.
Reminder notes even though I have the task feature on my phone and computer, printed copies of articles, receipts, bookmarks, business cards, copies of manuscripts, you name it - they all take up space. For the time being, I've tamed them, but for how long?
Strange, how in this age of computers I'm still so inundated by paper in my life.
Does anyone else have this problem?
Morgan Mandel
www.morganmandel.com
http://bookplace.ning.com
http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com
http://mysteryturtles.blogspot.com
http://www.myspace.com/morganmandel
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Blow'n in the Wind
The wind is howling, debris is flying. It looks and feels more like Fall than the beginning of Spring. Illinois weather is famous for being unpredictable.
So is writing. My work in progress is still half done. I keep telling myself this could be my Breakout Novel. I must finish it.
Circumstances keep getting in the way. My already completed novel, TWO WRONGS, was published by Hard Shell Word Factory last February and I don't want to skimp on its promotion. I need to get my brand out and let the world know I and my novel exist or we'll both get nowhere.
I've got two other completed novels to get into publication. I don't want to neglect them.
Plus, I've got a husband who works all day and deserves attention when I get home, and a dog who's all by herself all the day long while we're off at work. She makes sure I notice her by grabbing things from my pockets or nudging my arm and making the mouse go flying when I'm sitting at the computer.
So my work in progress often gets blow'n in the wind.
The good thing is, it's not always windy, especially when it's kind of late and the husband and the dog are sleeping or when I'm on the train commuting. That's when I utilized the peace and quiet and continue on with my new creation. I will finish it. That I promise myself.
My advice to other writers is to look for your own peaceful spots. They're out there. You just need to look around and find them.
Morgan Mandel
www.morganmandel.com
www.myspace.com/morganmandel
http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/morganmandel
TWO WRONGS by Morgan Mandel is available at
www.hardshell.com, www.amazon.com, or by order at bookstores.
So is writing. My work in progress is still half done. I keep telling myself this could be my Breakout Novel. I must finish it.
Circumstances keep getting in the way. My already completed novel, TWO WRONGS, was published by Hard Shell Word Factory last February and I don't want to skimp on its promotion. I need to get my brand out and let the world know I and my novel exist or we'll both get nowhere.
I've got two other completed novels to get into publication. I don't want to neglect them.
Plus, I've got a husband who works all day and deserves attention when I get home, and a dog who's all by herself all the day long while we're off at work. She makes sure I notice her by grabbing things from my pockets or nudging my arm and making the mouse go flying when I'm sitting at the computer.
So my work in progress often gets blow'n in the wind.
The good thing is, it's not always windy, especially when it's kind of late and the husband and the dog are sleeping or when I'm on the train commuting. That's when I utilized the peace and quiet and continue on with my new creation. I will finish it. That I promise myself.
My advice to other writers is to look for your own peaceful spots. They're out there. You just need to look around and find them.
Morgan Mandel
www.morganmandel.com
www.myspace.com/morganmandel
http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/morganmandel
TWO WRONGS by Morgan Mandel is available at
www.hardshell.com, www.amazon.com, or by order at bookstores.
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