Whoopie! Another Book Event, A New Book & Her Grammarness Pushes On

Book Event






I mentioned Frances Caballo's SOCIAL MEDIA JUST FOR WRITERS before and pointed you to my review, but couldn't help but offer to host this author and her book here again because I really liked her book, and I think if you're new to this business of promotion or bogged down in so much promo, you've lost track of what you're doing,  it could be very helpful.


Besides, this week, Frances is having a great book event. She's offered to giveaway a hardcopy of her book to anyone in the continental United States. If you're outside of the U.S. she's open to sending a pdf to a winner from this blog. So, here's all you have to do to win-- enter the contest on rafflecopter and I'll contact you if you're chosen. 





Take a look at France's WEBSITE, visit her on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest. And if you want to up your chances of winning, check out other hosting sites on her tour schedule. She's everywhere!

a Rafflecopter giveaway




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New Book




TOUGH GIRL  by Libby Heily is here. 
Danger lurks everywhere in eleven year old Reggie's world—from the bully next door to the unwanted attentions of a creep at school. Raised by her mentally ill mother, Reggie is left to fend for herself in a rough






neighborhood. She escapes in daydreams, battling aliens with her alter ego,





Tough Girl.







When Reggie's mother disappears, her fantasy life spirals out of control and

starts to invade reality. She is hunted by a creature of her own design, and

even Tough Girl is not strong enough to stop him.




Will Reggie survive long enough for her mother to return, or will her dream

world take over?



Barnes and Noble   Smashwords   Amazon


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Her Grammarness 



One thing about English--or any language for that matter--it doesn't stay the same. Just pick up Shakespeare and read a few of those couplets. In four-hundred years we've lost doth and thee and thou along with the Elizabethan's more flexible syntax. (I'd love to talk about that here one day. Interesting.) 




However, our written language is much more stable, especially the standard form. However, recently linguists are talking about a quicker pace of change, even in the written form. Here are two sets of words that, until very recently, had distinct differences. Today, not so much.








Few and Less: The rule I knew was USE FEW WHEN YOU CAN COUNT THE NOUN. 


Few agents responded to my query. (Too true.) 



Then USE LESS WHEN YOU CAN'T COUNT THE NOUN. 


Writers have less time to write these days. (It seems this is also too true!) 

 Today I hear less for both the count and non-count nouns. What do you prefer? To keep the words distinct or to lose that rule entirely? 




Then there's the issue of Farther and Further. I still like to make farther refer to distance: 


The farther he threw his manuscript, the better he felt.



Then I keep further to refer to those abstract distances that I can't measure: 


The further he delved into his manuscript, the more he lost his original story line. (This happened to me just last month, so I can relate to just how abstract further delving can be!)








Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12