Jamie Patterson's Blog, page 38

Book Party!

Today I met with a dear family friend who has offered to host a book party in July for Lost Edens. It's kind of getting exciting and I absolutely love how the actual books turned out. Just looking at the orange suitcase on the cover makes me happy. The size of the book makes me happy. The seashells in the suitcase on the cover of this perfectly-sized book make me happy.

I am having a wee bit of anxiety, though, about people actually reading the book. Silly, I know. At this point, I have two basic fears:

1. That no one will read the book.
2. That someone will read the book.

I could be in for a nice, conflicted summer.

Note to self: must write sequel so I can talk about the really cool things I've done in my life instead of the one pretty big mistake that was ridiculously painful and foolish.

How to Pluralize Abbreviations

Pluralize abbreviations just as you would words. This means no apostrophe, with my condolences to apostrophe-lovers of the world.

Here are some examples:

I just sent the PDFs in an email.
He had two DWIs.

I know tacking the s on the end of an abbreviation like that looks kind of odd but, believe me, it's right. You'll need that apostrophe to indicate possession. Like this:

The TV's antenna was broken.
The SUV's wheel was flat.

Get it?

Got it?

Good.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is the first time I've felt obligated to justify my rating. This was a book I had to force myself to finish. There are some chapters involving killing zoo animals and skinning men alive that I had to skip entirely. But I stuck with it because Murakami really managed to create text that shifts awareness somehow. I think I read that the book induces a dream-like state and it really does. It affected my actual frame of mind more than most books do and for that reason I gave it three stars. I don't, however, think I would recommend the book; this is one I think people need to find for themselves.

Academic Phrases

I was digging around material for classes I used to teach and came across a document called "Top 10 Academic Phrases."

Might be helpful. Some I don't think are too terrific (loads of anthropomorphism!) but will at least get you going in the right direction:

This paper willStudies have found thatMore recently, literature has emerged that arguesSo far, however, there has been little discussion aboutResearch to date has tended to focus onA serious weakness with this argument isComparing the two results, it is clearFinally, a number of important limitations need to be considered, includingThe evidence from this study suggests thatThis study set out to determine For more, check out this link for some more good ideas, and this link for a good laugh (that is, phrases to avoid!).

Farther vs. Further

The battle between farther and further is easier than you'd think.

Use farther when there are actual distances to measure. You can remember this because far is part of the word. Example:

I ran pretty far today. I ran farther than you did!
(this is something we could measure)

Use further for something that can't be measured. Example:

You can't be further from the truth.
(this is something we sure can't measure)

Easy peasy. Now you know which wins when with farther and further.

Fact and Truth

Fact may not be truth, and truth may not be factual.

The question of which parts of a story were factual and which parts were not was probably not a very important one.

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Haruki Murakami

London, near Canary Wharf

This is on a brick wall along the Thames. I love seeing what people choose to write in public places and I love this one. (Ignore the misuse of everyday!)

Why Work?

From The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Lately, it's really been bothering me that, I don't know, the way
people work like this every day from morning to night is kind of weird. Hasn't it ever struck you as strange?

Sorry, kid. You have to Revise.

I just this very morning got an email from a student that basically said, "yeah, thanks for the suggestions but I'm not deleting any text. Do you know how long it took me to write that chapter?"

Yeah, I do. I get it. I know I just wrote about letting go of text but seriously, it needs repeating. Most of the time deleting text will strengthen the overall presentation of information, not weaken it. I promise you.

What are Serial Commas?

What are serial commas? Serial commas are pretty bad ass, that's what. Here are four reasons why:

1. Serial commas have aliases: They're also known as Oxford Commas and Harvard Commas. So, serial commas are kind of like the James Bond of punctuation.
2. Serial commas go before the word and (lions, tigers, and bears).
3. Serial commas go before or (delighted, happy, or thrilled).
4. Vampire Weekend wrote a song all about the Oxford Comma.

I wrote a little rhyme you might enjoy:

A serial comma goes before each element
In a series of three or more
Even before and and before or.

See APA 4.03 for more information or watch this nifty video my friend Tobias and I made. That's right. I said nifty.