Several months ago, I read a blog post about do's and don'ts for conference panels. I would cite the author and post if I could remember where I found it, so I'm terribly sorry. It may have been Janet Reid's , but I can't be sure. One of the no-no's was asking a question that was truly a thinly veiled pitch. Example: "How do you think a story about robots that pick your nose would sell? I can show you what I'm talking about, as I have the manuscript in my hand." Earlier today, I participated in my first UF Chat on Twitter. It was a blast and the discussion was great, and the other participants seemed very knowledgeable. Several of them are published, and I had a question I wanted to ask regarding the genre of my novel, The Rider of Nealra . I was afraid to ask, just in case I might look like Robot Pitch Girl above. Just before I actually asked, though, my toddler woke up and I had to leave. Several par...
Tweet When my identical twin and I were little, most of the time people thought we'd be exactly the same in every respect. Au, contraire. We always had different tastes. E ven our bodies are a little different. We both have skeletal deformities, but in different areas. We seem to be mirror image twins. Our cowlicks and our crooked teeth are on opposite sides; even some of her internal organs are backward. She liked math in grade school, I liked spelling, which is why we switched desks after recess. Our third grade teacher was oblivious that she was doing ALL of the math and I was doing ALL of the spelling. Our dastardly plan to pass third grade with flying colors was dashed when Mom tipped our teacher off. DRAT! FOILED AGAIN! As teenagers, she preferred to work on the farm with our Dad, I went to work at a nursing home. In college, she worked for degrees in chemistry, theater arts, and nursing. My degrees ar...
I wrote a review last month for the Portal, and one of the stories had slang that really bothered me. It wasn't because the language was foul. It bothered me because the author had an American Southerner calling a television a "telly." Much of the slang and nicknames he used just didn't ring true, and it almost ruined the story for me. Most of my stories are through the eyes of a Montana rancher, and all of the slang I use is derived from my family. I really like dialogue to sound authentic. Below, I've written examples of idioms and slang that my family uses, especially the older members. In the comments below, please offer up slang, accents, and idioms from the places you've been, but be sure to tell where you've heard them. Grandma's Idioms "I feel like I've been rode hard and put up wet." (People always gave me funny looks when I said this at college, for some reason.) "I burnt the hair right off my tongue." (C...
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