Fun With Words by Diana Flegal

Words can make us feel things emotionally. Hearing a voice recording of a loved one long gone squeezes our heart.

Or the first cry of a new born brings tears of joy.

And sometimes, what I think I have read- can crack me up.

The other day I was driving down the road and saw this sign: Heritage Adultday Retreat 

I read it to say: Heritage Adultery Retreat

I chuckled on for miles, imagining the workshops that might be presented at that weekend gathering.

In a week I will be attending the Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference. In reviewing my bio posted on their website, I read this:  Coming alongside of her authors, encouraging them in their long term writing goals and career development is her greatest joy. She enjoys connecting her clients with others of like interest through social media, reading, hiking, and river rafting.

What it seems to say is that I use reading, hiking and river rafting to connect authors.  Made me chuckle. I would like to be able to do some networking through social media while river rafting but I might get my smart phone wet and I am not sure I could Skype while navigating the French Broad River. In my haste to send in my bio, I forgot a very important punctuation mark.

She enjoys:

That would have made what I meant to say much clearer. Albeit less funny. :-)

Other road signs I have come across: 

•     Homade Fries
•     Farwood Fer sale
•     Leteracy night 
•     Congradulations Spelling Bee Winners

And we can not forget Church Bulletin Bloopers:

•     Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and the community. 
•     The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of every kind and they may be seen in the church basement Friday.  
•     Next weeks message will be: Don't let worries kill you. Let the church help.     
  
•     For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

And then there is the person who got a tattoo that reads: Love Concurs All. 
I would ask for my money back. :-(

Oops, this almost slipped by me when writing to a client about building a platform: ... then you have 'fiends' that  care enough to promote your title.

Have you read or written any particular words lately that have made you smile?

Caption This by Diana Flegal

Inspired by a BookFun.org post, I thought it might be fun to request you all to write a caption or tweet for the following picture.

But then I thought it would be even more fun for you all to write a very, very short story instead.

Chose 60 words or less to write a story inspired by the photo to the left.

It can be in verse, narrative or prose. In English please.

If you prefer to write a tweet or caption, have at it.

Have fun!





  

7 Life Hacks for Writers by Diana Flegal

Life Hack is a relatively new term to me yet I have been looking for shortcuts and the best way to do things most of my life.


Wikipedia defines it:


Life hacking refers to any trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method that increases productivity and efficiency, in all walks of life. In other words, anything that solves an everyday problem in an inspired, ingenious manner.


Coined in the 1980s in hacker culture, the term became popularized in the blogosphere and is primarily used by computer experts who suffer from information overload or those with a playful curiosity in the ways they can accelerate their workflow in ways other than programming.


Twitter: @LifeHacker that will offer you a lot of useful information and DIY tips.


MashGeek, a blog curating digital lifehacking articles since May 2011, was founded by Karan Goel to help people become more productive by using technology.^[11]


How can writers life hack and what would that look like?


OhLife is a simple email-based journal. It is not a social network or a blog - it's a place for you to privately remember your memorable days. They email you questions like, "How was your day?" and you answer the email which then stores your note.


What if you answered the questions as a character in your WIP (work in progress)?  It would definitely be a way to 'get inside your character's head'. And your answers would be stored and categorized for you.


One of the best and simplest editing tools for an author to employ is to 'read their manuscript out loud'.


People keep swiping your pens? 1000 Life Hacks offers this tip.


How to write long papers from lifehackable.com I am curious to know if this would work writing a novella? Worth a try.

Buzz Feed offers some life hacks here. I think #11 is great for most writers home offices. What do you think?


Five Social Media Hacks for more effective branding.


Having trouble managing your time? Here are 6 Tools to Help You Save Time Writing that might help.


I hope you have found some hacks here that will enable you to be more productive and find extra time to spend with your family and loved ones this summer!


Share a shortcut you employ in writing or let us know of an article or site that you have found useful.


Just for fun. Keep scrolling down until you see the bacon pancakes. Bam!

Word Origins and Meanings by Diana Flegal

Shakespeare once said: What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Did you know all written languages were originally figures of speech?

"Get out of town!", you say?
Really.


The American language is constantly changing, influenced by the many cultures living here as well as technology. Years ago someone coined the words Hot Seat for the electric chair, which we now use in a much broader sense, meaning under pressure.  Silly originally meant happy but now means foolish. If enough time passes, the original meaning will be lost as the broader one takes it's place.


When an author is writing a contemporary story, they need to use words that their reading audience can relate to, but they can not be too trendy, as the words meaning will quickly be replaced. Just as Groovy dates a story to the 70's, it is best to choose words that might still be in use 10-15 years ahead.

Wikipedia tells us the definition of many words that have origins specific to the internet. One example is the word Meme: A meme is "an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture".^[3] Planking is a meme example. Someone is photographed laying face down, posts the photograph online and they have planked.  Check out these hilarious photos of planking.


To get an idea how old words are given new meanings, and new words are created, check out Global Language Monitor's list of the top trending words of 2013.


A new word that got my attention was Twitflocker — The Next Big Thing in technology.


It is so common for us to say, "Is there an App for that"?

A new expression my friends and I are using now was coined from a T.V. advertisement:


"I unfriend you"!

"That's not how this works, that's not how any of this works".


What fun new words have become your favorites or have at least made you smile?

I like this one: crickets! Meaning silence - no one is talking.

We Can See His Lips Moving by Jim Hart

User names and passwords.   I hate ‘em.  But it’s tough to navigate the WWW (World Wide Web) without engaging them.  Your password is your identity and is uniquely yours. It gets you into a place where no one else can go - into the heart of the web.

The experts advise us to create a different password for every internet site that we log onto. Right. It’s really hard to keep coming up with these passwords. A strong password should include numbers, letters (some uppercase) and maybe some random characters like #@% :). And apparently ‘123abc’ is not a strong password.

Your writing style is also your identity and is uniquely yours. It gets you into a place where no one else can go – into the heart of the reader. But just as it takes intentional effort to come up with those passwords, the same can be said of creating a writing style that is unique and shapes your identity as a writer.

As an agent, I sometimes struggle through portions of an author’s offering. Often I read aloud those passages that I find to be awkward and clumsy. I have found this to be a quick exercise that helps in determining how the writing flows. There is a natural rhythm in speaking (unless you call auctions or bingo).

This exercise can help in determining the rhythm of your story or narrative. Do you run out of breath due to excessive run-on sentences, or poor punctuation? Are some sentences so short that it’s hard to gain any momentum? Start. Stop. Start. It’s like driving in rush-hour traffic. Long and short sentences are not bad, just think about mixing it up. This is just one exercise to help you craft your unique writing style.

(But remember: DON’T say your password out loud!)

In the sixth grade our English teacher gave our class the assignment of imitating the style of one of our favorite writers.  I picked Ray Bradbury. His was a very visual style. I liked the way he described things with few words. He was able to select the right word at the right place. Jonathan Swift referred to this as putting “the proper words in proper places.”

So by studying, and imitating, Ray Bradbury’s style, I learned at a young age to appreciate the creative use of adjectives, metaphors and similes. This is just one component in developing a unique style.

These days I write mostly songs (and an occasional blog).  I know what I want to say, but chances are, somebody else has already said it. Now it’s up to me to either discard the idea, or work at coming up with a different, and hopefully fresh way of putting that idea ‘out there’.  I will write something, and immediately love it. This could possibly be the best thing I’ve ever written! The next day I play it out loud and I hate it. This could possibly be the worst thing I’ve ever written! And then we go back and revisit it and figure out how to salvage it.

Have you done that with a sentence? A paragraph? A chapter?

What makes your writing style uniquely yours? What’s the style that’s going to get you into your reader’s heart? I can't wait to read it. And yes, sometimes I still move my lips when I read.

10 Writing Prompts by Diana Flegal

I have a wake-up routine that I follow most days, even when I travel to writer's conferences. I find it helpful in clearing the cobwebs of sleep or that nasty dream.

I brew my coffee, sit down with a Sudoku book and work through one of each level puzzle. I have music playing in the background; praise or Christian Rock- depending on my mood.

Then I refill my coffee mug and scratch around for a bite to eat, grab my note book and pen and begin my quiet time.

As a writer, writing prompts can clear your mind of pesky 'to do' lists and laundry calling and serve to get your creative juices flowing. Even well seasoned writers find this exercise a fun start to their day.

Set your timer for five (5) minutes for the first. 10 mins for the second and if your in writer's block add a third prompt for 15 mins.

Keep a small note book with you at all times. (most published writers know this)
Add sporadic thoughts that come to you throughout your day under the heading: Writing Prompts

Here are a few in mine. Grab your timer and get creative.  This simple low budget exercise might unleash in you a bestseller.     

1)  The smoke cleared and I could see he'd been crying.

2)  Love is not a many splendored thing. Seriously, they never seen...


3)  "Are you ready for some football" blared from the family room TV and I was about to....

4)  The mall was crowded when three shots/ shouts (you choose) rang out.

5)  Heat had cracked the pavement and turned the earth to dust.

6)  Don't walk out...I hate when she does that!

7)  Blue mangos, neatly diced, filled a square bowl next to a pile of peels on the kitchens island , but the room was eerily quiet.  

8)  Banging the car radio I added that to my virtual dream list of things I'd get fixed  ...

9)  The smell choked me, a mix of ammonia, Lysol and dog.

10) Sand sifted through the hourglass ...


Have a blessed 'over the hump' day. May your creative juices flow as never before and you accomplish 2,000 more words than your days goal.

Diana