Alexandra Wolfe's Blog, page 21

Flaming Dahlia

Summer isn’t quite done, yet! As is evident by this beautiful Dahlia in full bloom at the Jehanne D’Arc Gardens here, in QC.

International Giveaway #1

I’m doing my first ever book giveaway, so why not join in the fun to win! One book—of your choosing—is up for grabs. You have 72 hours in which to enter to win one of the books listed below. Here’s how to enter, you MUST: FOLLOW me on WordPress (at this blog) SHARE this giveaway ...

THE BURN has arrived!

A big BIG thank you to the wonderful Kathleen Kent for a review copy of THE BURN, book 2 in her Detective Betty series of crime novels. Many of you will know Kent for her historical novels, the award-winning HERETIC’S DAUGHTER and the equally successful follow up, THE TRAITOR’S WIFE. But I am so glad ...

Author Spotlight: Louise Penny

Those of you who come here regularly know one of my all-time favourite, go-to authors is Louise Penny. Author of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache books, also known as, the Three Pines series. Ever since I discovered Penny’s books, starting with Bury Your Dead, I’ve been in love with not only her writing, but her ...

I’m Making a Crossing …

Book Crossing that is, as in, I decided yesterday after months of trying to literally ‘give away‘ 70 plus books for free, to join the online community, BookCrossing. You can find me here Wry Writer if you want to connect. BookCrossing is the act of releasing your books “into the wild” for strangers to find, or via ...

Choosing Your Words Carefully

Today I want to look at language, and specifically the use of certain words. In this case—given the climate of hatred spewing out all over the place, I’m focusing in on the word, despise [verb] : to feel contempt or a deep repugnance for, as in : he despised himself for voting for Trump.

As writers, choosing the right word is important:

It’s one thing to dislike someone; it’s quite another to despise or detest the person. Both are strong words, used to describe extreme dislike or hatred.

Detest is probably the purest expression of hatred (: she detested the woman who had raised her, and longed to find her own mother), while despise suggests looking down with great contempt and regarding the person as mean, petty, weak, or worthless (she despised men whose only concern was their own safety).

Disdain carries even stronger connotations of superiority, often combined with self-righteousness (: to disdain anyone lacking a college education).

Scorn is a stronger word for disdain, and it implies an attitude of not only contempt but of haughty rejection or refusal (: to scorn the man she’d once loved).

To loathe something is to feel utter disgust toward it (: she grew to loathe peanut butter and jelly sandwiches) and to abhor it is to feel a profound, shuddering, repugnance (: she abhorred the very idea of asking for the money).

Contemn is a more literary word meaning to treat with disdain, scorn, or contempt.

Now you can accurately describe how much you detest, despise, hate, scorn, loathe, disdain and feel contempt for … whomever!

A Writer’s Primer

Remember that, whilst most writing need not always conform to the standards set for a print publication, there are, nonetheless, still a number of things you should try to remember when composing everything from a blog post, to your magnus opus.

Proofreading: First rule of thumb, always proofread your work. While readers and editors are all well aware that typos happen, make sure your work is as polished and presentable as possible.

Spelling: Most people won’t get upset about US vs British spelling—both are acceptable—but use one or the other.

Grammar:

it’s = it is.

its = belonging to it, used exactly the same way as his or hers.

there = a location, as in: over there, there it is.

their = belonging to them, as in: their house, their car.

they’re = they are, as in: “They’re coming right at us!”

your = belonging to you, as in: your hat, your glove.

you’re = you are, as in “You’re starting to annoy me.”

Punctuation:

Terminal period and commas inside closing quotation marks.
US-writers use the serial comma, as in: (They publish crime, adventure, and erotica.)
Question marks are only used after a direct question.
Watch out for excessive use of exclamation points.

Quote marks: Use standard, American-style dialogue format with double quote marks. It’s easier for all concerned.

Scene breaks:

Flashbacks and dream sequences should be separated by one blank line above and below.
Scene breaks should be indicated by * * * or the hash symbol # with one blank line above and below.

Ellipses:

Use ellipses to indicate incomplete sentences or a speaker’s voice trailing off.
Use ellipses when presenting one side of a telephone conversation, as in: “Yes?…I think I can but—”
Always use three-point, un-spaced ellipses.
Capitalize the first word in a complete sentence after ellipses.

Em dashes:

Use an em dash (formed by typing two hyphens, then “ENTER” in Word Docs) to indicate breaks in dialogue and to indicate when one character interrupts another’s speech. No spaces should appear before or after an em dash.

Italics:

Use to indicate internal monologue.
Italicize the names of specific ships and other vessels, such as Apollo 13.
Italicize unfamiliar foreign words and phrases.

Abbreviations:

Spell out percent, degrees in running text.
U.S. and D.C. except in addresses.
Spell out state names in running text.

That/Which:

Try to avoid — Susan painted a sun, which was yellow / Susan painted the sun that was yellow.

Try for — Susan painted a yellow sun.

Numbers: Spell out numbers in dialogue, unless they have decimals.

Blond/Blonde: Use blonde as a feminine noun only.

She was blonde.
She had blond hair.

Specific Words:

All right; e-mail; good-bye; good night; Internet; Web site; fax.
Afterward / Backward / Forward / Toward — No “s” at the end.
Also is an adverb, not a conjunction.
Charismatic, eyes are not charismatic, people are.
Earth, as in referring to a body in the solar system: “We spotted Earth from the surface of the moon.”
Earth’s orbit, but earth when talking about soil.
e.g. and i.e. both take a comma, as in e.g., / i.e.,
e.g., = for example; i.e., =  that is to say.)
Emigrant is one who leaves a country.
Enormity does not mean “enormousness”; it is used in the “enormity of the crime”.
Dilemma, as in choice, not a problem.
Immigrant is someone who comes into a country.
Nonetheless, is all one word.
Onto indicates motion as in getting on top of; you hold on to something. “On to” also means “proceeding,” as in, “The elevator opened on to the fourth floor.”
Use farther to indicate physical distance and further to indicate time.
For “whom” the bell tolls. Please, if you have to use the word whom, make sure you know in what context.

And there you have it, it’s all as clear as mud.

Tardigrades Invade the Moon

It’s the stuff of science fiction or, nightmares, depending on how you look at it. But when the Israeli lunar lander, dubbed Beresheet, crashed on the moon in April, it left behind thousands of microscopic and, may I say, indestructible tardigrades, commonly known as water bears.

Water bears—the toughest animal on Earth—offer a very benign impression for the likeliest of scenarios any author, worth their salt, could come up with. And yet, when you take into consideration the fact that not only did the lander leave behind these creatures and, a library of information, but also, human DNA.

I leave you to think about that for a moment.

Yes … human DNA, indestructible tardigrades AND a library—a DVD containing a 30 million page archive of human history. What could possibly go wrong? Don’t worry though about the DVD, the storage medium has its limits and the tech and encoding standard will, no doubt, be out of date sooner rather than later.

The co-founder of the organisation that helped put the water bears on the moon thinks they’re almost definitely alive. Especially when you take into consideration these ‘bears’ can survive being heated up to 150C and frozen to almost absolute zero. They can also be brought back to ‘life’ after decades of being dehydrated.

All it takes is water … then, the tardigrade conquest of the solar system will have begun.

It’s time for THE BURN

THE BURN, the much anticipated sequel to THE DIME, by Edgar-nominated and ALA award-winning author, Kathleen Kent, will hit shelves February 11, 2020. But, thanks to her publisher Mulholland Books, Kathleen was toasting receipt of her ARCs with a bottle of Redhead red wine last night!

How do you celebrate the arrival of the Advanced Reading Copies of THE BURN?. . .With a bottle of Redhead Red wine, of course!⁣

⁣

— Kathleen Kent-Author (@kathleenkent214) August 6, 2019

Well, I’m happy to report that, due to my cheek, I’ll be in receipt of one of those much coveted copies for review. So, as they say, stand by for more.

All power to the Gingers!

BOOK DETAILS

There’s not much that can make Detective Betty Rhyzyk flinch. But the wounds from her run-in with the apocalyptic cult The Family are still fresh, and she’s having trouble readjusting to life as it once was. She’s back at work as a narcotics detective, but something isn’t right–at work, where someone has been assassinating confidential informants, or at home, where she struggles to connect with her loving wife, Jackie. To make matters worse, Betty’s partner seems to be increasingly dependent on the prescription painkillers he was prescribed for the injuries he sustained rescuing her.

Forced into therapy, a desk assignment, and domestic bliss, Betty’s at the point of breaking when she decides to go rogue, investigating her own department and chasing down phantom sightings of the cult leader who took her hostage. The chase will lead her to the dark heart of a drug cartel terrorizing Dallas, and straight to the crooked cops who plan to profit from it all.

There’s never a dull moment in Dallas, especially now that Det. Betty’s back.

RIP Toni Morrison, 1931 – 2019

I was saddened to hear that Nobel (Nobel Lecture) and Pulitzer prize winning author of such luminary works as Beloved and Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison, passed away last night.

Barack Obama said of her:

Toni Morrison was a national treasure, as good a storyteller, as captivating, in person as she was on the page. Her writing was a beautiful, meaningful challenge to our conscience and our moral imagination. What a gift to breathe the same air as her, if only for a while.

Truly, there is a little less beauty in the world today with her passing. For me, personally, as a writer, never did her words ring more true than her oft quoted words:

If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it.

You will be deeply missed, Ms. Morrison, but your words live on. Words to live by now and always.