Jaye Em Edgecliff's Blog, page 7

[Reblog] 50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice

50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice By Geoffrey K. PullumAPRIL 17, 2009

April 16 is the 50th anniversary of the publication of a little book that is loved and admired throughout American academe. Celebrations, readings, and toasts are being held, and a commemorative edition has been released.

I won’t be celebrating.

The Elements of Style does not deserve the enormous esteem in which it is held by American college graduates. Its advice ranges from limp platitudes to inconsistent nonsense. Its...

Rant over modern series writing

(Sarah is a cuckoo—a breed of human-looking cryptid that’s biologically more like a giant wasp than any sort of primate, and telepathic to boot. Evolution is funky sometimes.)

Excerpt From: Seanan McGuire. “Midnight Blue-Light Special.” iBooks. https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/midnight-blue-light-special/id592216584?mt=11

So, at the moment, I’m rereadingMidnight Blue-Light Special. And it made me have to say something about why I don’t read a lot of newer series.

There are 3 fundamental app...

Ted Cruz, Dominionism and Jesus

Fantastic

JONATHAN TURLEY

Submitted By: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger

As a Jew who is familiar with “The Gospels” there is something perplexing about some Christians in America who have risen to power in our political process within the last four decades. Much of Jesus message, as detailed in “The Gospels” has been one of sympathy to the poor, enmity to the rich and love for humanity. I can give you the time tested quotes but just about everyone is familiar with them. Indeed through my childho...

The Ultimate Mary Sue Test

I got to seriously thinking about some of the discussions around the internet about this movie character is or isn’t a Mary Sue, or this TV character, or this, or that, etc.

A pattern emerged quickly among the discussions that, according to these conversations, makes a Mary Sue test exceedingly short and simple. So I present one.

The Test

Instructions: keep 2 columns of tallies for answer a or answer b.

1) What is the character’s gender identity?

a) Male
b) Female

2) Is the character competen...

Sincerest apology

I’mso sorry!

For what?! Ohgods Now & Forever is cancelled?!

No, nothing at all like that. But related, tangentially.

(spoilerish alert)

I’ve been so stressed, busy, depressed, and just generally suffering from a case of Life (and virtually none of it in a good way, totally not fair) that I never kept my promise to post the vignette/short story of Kaede and Maureen getting engaged!

I would do that right now, but it isn’t typed nor proofread.

That, however, will be my project for the month, ma...

2015 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

[image error]

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,300 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 38 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Filed under: Good stuff

ZOMG! She lives!?

Yeah, that’s becoming a rather popular post topic for me lately.

Sorry about that. This has just been a year of hell for me. Some ups, certainly. Moving to Massachusetts has been pretty cool if not without its sour notes. I’ve become addicted to Doctor Whowhich is bloody fantastic, but Netflix (henceforth referred to as ‘the meanie bad people’ for short) haven’t got series 9 yet, so I don’t get to find out what’s been going on.

I’ve been managing to write. Not as much or as often as I’d like....

Moved! And staying bloody put.

[image error]

The Berkshire Hills, part of the Appalachian Mountains, in winter (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It was insanity, it was … moving sucks. I am not doing it again.

I’m settling in here in the Berkshires, and loving it here. Maybe if I ever hit the level of best seller wherein I have millions of dollars I’ll buy a quiet island somewhere in Nova Scotia or Norway or something, but that’s different. That’s me paying several very large and well built individuals with nothing better to do to come out a...

Writing advice

Yeah, I’m back on this. But it’s important.

So, when I tell people I’ve published a book I get some very odd questions, but one that comes up often is “so how did that happen?”

Howdoes one answer that? I usually go with “I went through most of a pack of paper and several ink cartridges.”

Thing is, thatis how it happens. I know a lot of writers, but I don’t know many authors. The difference? The former have ideas, and they write … a lot … but they never finish anything, or never put it out the...

Great Idea! The Barking Lot (Doggy Parking Bays)

Originally posted on Kindness Blog:

If you have ever wanted to go shopping but had nowhere to leave the dog, IKEA may have come up with the perfect solution.
The Swedish furniture giants have created doggy parking bays where customers can leave their pooches while they have a wander around the store.

The dedicated spaces, complete with artificial grass, water bowls and a secure place to tie them, have been set up outside stores in Cologne, Germany. It gives customers with pets a place to...