When I went spelunking through the list of top Amazon reviewers awhile back, I didn’t expect to see a familiar name. But there he was: Michael Gallagher of Kindle Books & Tips is a Top-10 Amazon reviewer. He has graciously consented to don both hats and sit in the Comfy Chair for this month’s LynneQuisition. Continue reading “LynneQuisition: Michael Gallagher”
Tag: writing tips
Do You Trust Your Readers?
When I learned to drive as a teen (yes, they had cars back then, shut up), one of the more puzzling statements in my DMV-supplied manual was: “Passing is a cooperative venture.” This didn’t make sense until I was in a situation where a guy in front of me kept speeding up to avoid my attempts to pass him. I don’t know what his problem was, maybe a little too much testosterone in the bloodstream, but that’s when I realized that the act of passing is a team sport. I have to speed up, and in a legal, safe place, he has to let me pass him. Continue reading “Do You Trust Your Readers?”
The Art of Paragraphs: When to Hit Enter
This month we’re celebrating our second anniversary here on the “Death Star,” but we’ve not gotten so big for our britches that we won’t take your requests. We will. And we won’t even charge for them. Well, not as much as we used to, although our attorneys, Cantwell, Wyer, and Bowersock, have advised us not to talk about that. Continue reading “The Art of Paragraphs: When to Hit Enter”
Words I Never Want to See Misused Again, Anywhere, Ever
Maybe it’s the weather. It’s been really hot here, and when it’s not hot, it’s rainy. In any case, I’m feeling kind of cranky lately. So when I ran across this article about words we all might be misusing, I was in the mood to: a) shake my head at the misguided masses, and b) share it far and wide.
And then I read it again and realized that some of the words the blogger had flagged weren’t really misused. Instead, the word’s definition had changed over the years/decades/eons. That happens quite often. I mean, you aren’t going to call a happy person “gay” these days, right? Not unless you know some additional details about them, anyway – details that may or may not have anything to do about their current emotional state.
Anyway, this realization made me crankier. So I came up with my own list of words whose misuse ought to be expunged from the zeitgeist. Continue reading “Words I Never Want to See Misused Again, Anywhere, Ever”