Thursday Tidbits:
Have you noticed the map I put up down at the bottom of this page? It's from a free site and it tracks where "hits" come from each day. I think it's purdy. And interesting--Wednesday we had a visitor from India. We've had them from Africa.
I leave again tomorrow, this time for Connecticut to lead a writing workshop, and I'll be back Sunday. I'm hoping for fall leaves in many colors, but do you think it's too early for that?
Last night I spoke at a book club where they served whipped peanut butter pie on a graham cracker crust. Every bite I ate. Nearly licked the plate I did.
My son cracks me up. Recently he did something that cost me a lot more money than I expected. His email of apology began, "Dearest Mother."
Have you seen any new tv shows that you'd recommend?
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I jumped the gun in posting this, cause I don't intend on waking up as early as some of you!
zzzzzz
have a great trip! i shall enjoy vicariously any fall colors you encounter as the cactus remains a stubborn green all year, Dearest Nancy O:-)
Hello Nancy and Manny.
That's pretty cool with the world map Nancy. I've got something like that, but you have to go into the program to find it.
It might not be to early for the leaves. Olivia is farther North, but she has some beautiful colors up there. Alas I'm like Manny, except the green here is pine trees.
Nope no tv shows I know of yet, but the season is young.
You have a good and safe trip. We'll miss ya.
Oh I forgot to add. Remember the other day I said we have no coffee shop in town. I found out yesterday we're getting one. One step closer to becoming a metropolis. Look out NYC! :)
TV? I don't watch much TV. I see a few minutes of what the gurls are watching from time to time, that's about it. Wife had The Office on earlier this week, in fact the episode my bro Solar was telling me about, and I found it interesting in a train-wreck sort of way. She didn't like it though, so chances are I won't get to watch it again.
Seriously, if I spent a couple hours/day watching TV, I wouldn't have any time left to write or even keep up with everyone's blogs. I don't know how the rest of you do it.
Fall? Connecticut? It's October, so if you miss whatever fall displays happen there, you won't miss by much. Have a good time leading the workshop!
Continuing the "group chat" discussion from last night: KB, does Gmail/Gtalk do group chat? If not, I can set up something on AIM w/o too much effort.
The only fall colors in FL are the dying palm fronds on the little tree in front of my house. Flowering bushes are in full bloom. No turning leaves, doggone it. Enjoy them for me!
They should be turning in CT, Nancy - I know the peak week in upstate NY is the first week of October, so you should have something. Unless this warm fall has delayed them. Have a safe trip!
Yay for your coffee shop, fam - you'll have to tell us if they make a good latte.
No TV here, either - if it doesn't involve a ball, I don't watch it.
Morning, everyone!
(waving especially hard at Manny. Not that I have favorites....)
New Television Shows:
There's a Monday night show about Time Travel in San Francisco that we've been watching.
We seem to sleep through at least some of Bionic Woman (is that good or bad?)
Kid Nation fascinates and repels me. It's so bizarre, I can't stop watching. I'm learning that children can be REALLY NICE to each other.
Car Pool -- I laugh all the way through it.
Something called Chuck which mister says I like, but I never really know what I'm watching until it's over. I think it's the one that takes place in a Mall. And the guy in it looks like the guy in the American version of Office.
Old Favorites: I like Heroes, My Name is Earl, Office and Survivor
Like Chauncey Gardener, I like to watch TV.
Nancy,
I don't ever seem to watch television shows when they're actually running (too chaotic of a schedule I guess.) But I was at a friend's house and they had Arrested Development on DVD from Netflix. That show was hilarious. I'm newly converted to the whole Netflix thing and should be getting that series in the mail soon.
Have a safe and wonderful trip!
I finally signed up for Netflix this summer, K, and love it. I never found time for movies when I was writing, but a friend reminded me that I need to study all aspects of writing, including watching movies and how they're written. So now I can't wait for the mail!
I DID actually watch Dexter, the Showtime series, on Netflix, and absolutely love it. Almost enough to sign up for Showtime - but not quite.
lol, Dearest Manny! And g'morning, Dearest Family Man,Farfetched, Beth, Katiebird,Kimberly.
Well, I'm up, but let us not go so far as to say, awake.
Nancy, I'm in NY a few miles from the Connecticut border. Believe me, you will see much in the way of fall color. Welcome to the area!
Oh, thanks, b2! I'm so happy to hear that. To tell you the truth, it's the real reason I agreed to do this workshop. :)Nice people, worthy cause, and all that, but FALL LEAVES IN NEW ENGLAND! Which I have never seen.
I don't mean I've never seen New England, I mean I've never seen autumn there. I also mean I can't string a decent sentence together today!
Guess I'd better go to lunch.
Speaking of which, and to pursue Far's question upriver. . .KB, what's the advantage of GMail for a virtual lunch?
Just to answer on the Gmail, it does have a chat that does pretty good. Plus I've found with Gmail that I never get spam in my inbox. So far its diverted it all to a different section when I can just choose all and delete it.
Thanks, fm. I've never really caught on to it.
Family Man, I'm getting a "This Page Cannot Be Displayed" on your Haloscan. Maybe it's just my 'puter. I'll try later. (That was tres amusing about the local and the WiFi.)
Nancy it's going through one of its burps. Sometimes I have trouble just getting onto my blog. Give it some time and thanks for trying.
Hi everybody,
Been and will remain crazy busy for next several weeks.
Meant to stop in on the Nancy Drew diary yesterday. The top shelf of our Dining room shelves starts with all the 70s era Hardy Boys (up till they switch to paperback) then has all the matching Nancy Drews and all the matching Tom Swifts-something like 150 matched hardcovers in a row that wraps across two walls. Loved them all as a kid.
Off to get stuff done for class and for seeing Ian McKellen's King Lear tonight.
Bye.
What a great idea, Kelly! I move too often - I've lost so much of my childhood.
Enjoy the play - what a treat. Hope class is going well.
Nice to see you stopping by!
Passive Voice.
Kimberly, I missed the passive voice posts, but wanted to add a tidbit.
I took a lot of grammar/usage courses in school. I was facinated by the whole arrangement. I had a graduate seminar in advanced grammar (sounds tough, but it really was easy and fun -- like crossword puzzles -- once you got past the basics). It was offered once every two years and there were only two students in the class. Me and some other idiot.
Over the years, I have made myself forget much of it, but one thing I'll always remember is a grammar textbook that had this in it:
The passive voice should be avoided.
Unless, I guess, you're writing a textbook. :-)
ghostfolk, You made me GIGGLE!
The power of the Passive Voice.
There are ways, though, the passive voice can be used to good effects (one is to avoid attribution, but that's boring).
The other is to bring elements of a sentence to the start of it. For emphasis. When emphasis is critical.
Basically, the strongest emphasis in a sentence is the beginning.
The verb carries some emphasis, too, of course. [And therefore the general acceptance that active verb constructions are preferred --
but not always.]
Teachers (and some editors) learn these rules and forget the exceptions. Which is too bad. Kind of like someone who outlaws sentence fragments. :-)
Here's an example.
"Three men attacked Mrs. Blakely last night."
Active voice. A direct, clear sentence.
But, the "three men" gets major emphasis and the secondary emphasis is on last night, with the verb holding its own. Mrs. Blakely seems mentioned almost as a matter of routine.
However, I want to emphasize the plight of Mrs. Blakely (the story is about her, not the three men). I do this by simply putting her first in the sentence.
"Mrs. Blakely was attacked last night by three men."
Passive voice.
Imagine I am saying this out loud to the congregation on Sunday morning. Mrs. Blakely is a church member. She deserves our thoughts and prayers.
The passive voice is preferred for my usage. By far. [The listener wants it that way.]
Katiebird, if I made you giggle, my work is done for the day. :-)
!! Does that mean you can slack the rest of the day?
Also, I took a similar graduate class (except I took it for undergraduate credit) mine was a combo -- grammar/style.
The very first thing I wrote the professor circled pieces of every single sentence in read and wrote BORING over each one! Just about every sentence started Subject Verb. Subject verb.....
I think I finally lost it in a move -- but I NEVER forgot that lesson.
Quick note to say, 'bye. I'll see you Sunday or, more likely, Monday. Then no more traveling for awhile.
Happy weekend,everybody!
{{Nancy}} have a GREAT weekend!
Nancy have a good trip, have fun and be safe.
Be careful out there, Nancy!
Ghost, good reminder about when passive voice really *is* the way to go. I have to wrestle with it a lot in technical writing — it's easy enough to avoid when writing actual instructions, because they almost always start with an imperative ("Connect the cable to the Ethernet port"), but it's a bit more difficult when writing support material. My personal rule is, if it doesn't matter who is doing something, passive is OK to make that implication. Otherwise, if a particular person (say, a wiring technician) is doing it, then I say who.
For when you get back, Nancy: you might have seen this already, but if you scroll down to the Trade Paperback bestsellers, VoSP is in the top ten!!!
Yay Nancy! Have a great weekend, everyone.
Oops, looks like the link didn't post. Let's try it again.
http://www.mysterylovers.com/books/bestsellers/#hard
FAR -- Gmail has a group chat feature.
Nancy -- you'll see lots I imagine. Hope you have (had) a great time.
Beth, I agree with you on Dexter. Love that wicked series--and the second season is showing now, but it will also come out on DVD! This from somebody who'd rather read than watch TV!
And Kelly, I want your dining room.
Hi,friends. I'm back from a lovely trip. More tomorrow. Right now, I'm playing catch up.
Beth, thanks for that nice link! The owner of that wonderful store posts here now and then. She has been incredibly supportive of my books.
Nancy! It's great to see you. did you have fun?
I did, thanks, KB. More in the post for tomorrow.
See ya in the AM.
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