Search found 116 matches

by Username
July 26th, 2010, 10:35 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: Text to speech software
Replies: 24
Views: 7610

Re: Text to speech software

I've been doing this for years.

I first head about this on Grammar Girl's podcast.

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/
by Username
July 25th, 2010, 1:07 pm
Forum: Excerpts
Topic: TOUR BUS TO MEXICO, 1982 - short story excerpt
Replies: 7
Views: 3297

Re: TOUR BUS TO MEXICO, 1982 - short story excerpt

I'm an unpublished novelist, so take this comment with a grain of salt (I mean, who am I to be dishing out advice?) - but presently, with my own writing, I'm trying to avoid ANYTHING that's going to cause an agent or an editor to stop reading. So here's my chief concern: There just aren't a lot of n...
by Username
July 22nd, 2010, 3:48 pm
Forum: Excerpts
Topic: Dream Walker-Chapter One
Replies: 7
Views: 3793

Re: Dream Walker-Chapter One

Telling: John was angry and upset that his neighbor's son had just run over his dog... (The problem here is that I'm telling you that John is angry and upset. Rather, I need to show you that John is angry and upset, really without ever using those two words.) Showing: John heard a noise, and looked ...
by Username
July 20th, 2010, 4:55 pm
Forum: Nominate Your Query or First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Topic: Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog
Replies: 720
Views: 451793

Re: Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog

Untitled. Literary fiction. In the middle of lunch service Chef had sent one of his young cooks to the market on a produce run, and now the young man was back with a basketful of the happiest tomatoes Chef had seen since the summer. This is some beautiful produce, he thought, picking one up and smel...
by Username
July 9th, 2010, 3:09 pm
Forum: Town Hall
Topic: So do you have any foes on this site?
Replies: 32
Views: 15881

Re: So do you have any foes on this site?

Ink, Username, you're both right. I find J. T. annoying at times too. But I can't find a way to 'foe' myself. Isn't that what the expression 'getting out of your mind' is supposed to mean. Everywhere you go, there you are. So some people choose to lose themselves in drugs. Michael Palin in his trav...
by Username
July 8th, 2010, 7:34 pm
Forum: Town Hall
Topic: So do you have any foes on this site?
Replies: 32
Views: 15881

Re: So do you have any foes on this site?

Yup, got some people on my ignore list.

That J.T. Shea individual in particular is extremely annoying - the way he was so complimentary of an excerpt I posted was just... ugh, sickening. And I've gotta say it, Nathan Bransford went on my ignore list right away. That guy is SO annoying.
by Username
July 6th, 2010, 5:23 pm
Forum: Excerpts
Topic: The Incredible Race
Replies: 50
Views: 22403

Re: The Incredible Race

Bryan, regarding ignorance: If I had known twenty years ago what I know now, I would never have invested as much time and energy as I did in teaching myself how to write fiction. I would've focused, rather, on becoming a copy editor. So why don't I do that now? It's because I've committed myself to ...
by Username
July 5th, 2010, 10:21 pm
Forum: Excerpts
Topic: The Incredible Race
Replies: 50
Views: 22403

Re: The Incredible Race

J.D. Salinger, after the publication of Catcher In The Rye, submitted a novel that was deemed to be 'unpublishable'. The people who read it said it was god awful. Of course a published novelist can generate a masterpiece, and then a clunker, or vice versa - and so can an unpublished author. DGLM's p...
by Username
July 3rd, 2010, 9:41 pm
Forum: Excerpts
Topic: The Incredible Race
Replies: 50
Views: 22403

Re: The Incredible Race

There's a typo in your last sentence. I think you meant to write alligators, not allegories. But, wow, what a coincidence that Mr. Bransford, in his blog, linked to James McCarthy's blog, in which Mr. McCarthy briefly pondered the same issue we're now discussing. Here's what McCarthy wrote: "Li...
by Username
July 3rd, 2010, 1:22 pm
Forum: Excerpts
Topic: The Incredible Race
Replies: 50
Views: 22403

Re: The Incredible Race

You see, there it is again. It's this idea that if you're not an optimist then you're a pessimist - how about being a realist? Man oh man, woe betide the person who has the foresight to look down the road and see that it's troubled, and then announce it to the herd when the herd is in full-on party ...
by Username
July 2nd, 2010, 9:49 pm
Forum: Excerpts
Topic: The Incredible Race
Replies: 50
Views: 22403

Re: The Incredible Race

Also, about speed... what I meant was... in order to speed up... as a writer... you need to learn to slow down.
by Username
July 2nd, 2010, 9:46 pm
Forum: Excerpts
Topic: The Incredible Race
Replies: 50
Views: 22403

Re: The Incredible Race

I'm not sure I like the idea of life being a journey? Life, the way I see it, is just one long laborious thing (and honestly for some people it's not even long... a lot of guys I know didn't even make it past the age of thirty). Far too many people, these days, see the world through the discoloratio...
by Username
July 1st, 2010, 2:01 pm
Forum: Excerpts
Topic: The Incredible Race
Replies: 50
Views: 22403

Re: The Incredible Race

However, after some thinking, I've decided that you are probably female because only women would take such feedback personally and not put it to good use. Trust me, I am one. We are an emotional and hard-headed bunch. What are you referring to? Are you referring to the other thread, in which I was ...
by Username
June 28th, 2010, 10:52 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: Any Playwrights?
Replies: 2
Views: 1401

Re: Any Playwrights?

Theater was my first love!

No, I'm kidding. I just like saying that.
by Username
June 27th, 2010, 9:43 pm
Forum: Writing
Topic: Favorite quotes about writing
Replies: 62
Views: 20270

Re: Favorite quotes about writing

Also, do you mind if I step in and be a Grammarian - I just like telling people what to do. What we're really talking about here are quotations. Americans bastardized the word 'quote' and transformed it into a noun - it used to be a verb... back in England, I mean. The thing that goes between quotat...