Natasha Deen's Blog, page 93

Wednesday Whoa: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

I actually haven't started reading this, yet, but the premise of this non-fiction book is too intriguing to pass up—I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, here's the blurb: Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more. Henrietta's cells...

Tuesday Technique

Ah, writer's block. For the next few weeks, I'm going to blog on it every Tuesday (because I'm wrestling with it right now).

Cause #1 for WB: You're trying to edit and write at the same time.

Writing is right-brain. It's getting stuff on the page.

Editing is left-brain. It's about polishing for publication.

Solution: Don't do both at the same time--write THEN edit.

Mechanical Monday: Quotations

Quotations go around dialog, "You're the best teacher, ever," said Julie. They're also used to set out terminology (usually as an indication the writer/character is being sarcastic: That guy was a real "winner." 

Things to remember—make sure the quotes face the correct way (this font doesn't allow for me to give an example, but open quotes (looks like a backward comma) to start dialog, close quote to end the dialog).

Also remember that the speaker's words are considered a paragraph. So...

Friday Freebie: The Difference Between Torture and Pleasure

I heard that listening to the same song over and over again can be considered a form of torture, but Martin Solveig's "Hello" was my tune of choice as I spent three hours in the car driving from camp to class & back again…

Thursday Time: Fix the Dings

As I drove to Bragg Creek last week, I noticed a chip in my windshield. No time to fix it, so I stuck a sticker on it (to prevent the dirt from cracking it further) and hoped it would last until I returned home…no such luck, with all the rain, the sticker just washed off…so, I just kept sticking stickers…and was able to make it home and get it fixed.

But it got me thinking (and bear in mind I'm running on 3-4 hours of sleep/night, since July3), it's like life. We get the dents and chips...

Wednesday Whoa: Watch out Stephen King

Spent the past 14 days (and the next 4) working with teen writers, and nothing against Stephen King, but buddy you better watch out. These guys are going to take over the NY Times Best-Selling lists!

You Know #254

You know it's going to be an awesome, adventure-some kind of day when you staple yourself to a stack of papers in your office…

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Technique Tuesday: Paralysis by Analysis

I've said it once, I'll say it again: don't edit at the same time you're writing.  Just write. Get the story down and done.

THEN you can edit.

But writing is right-brained. Editing is left-brained.  Don't try to do both at the same time.

Mechanical Monday: The Dash

No, no, not the sprint you do when you're at the grocery store, have one item, an are trying to beat the dude trying to sneak eleven items into the "ten only" line.  I'm talking about the dash you use in writing, when you want to set something apart—a part of the sentence that's important and connected—but that's also an aside:

I went to Perth—thinking I'd find love—but all I found was fish.

The thing I've noticed about the stuff in between the dashes (when it's written in the format...