O Fellow Connoisseurs of Mythic Fiction (and Gastronomy), please: Lend me your eyes. For many years now, I have been writing occasional fantasy tales about Prosatio Silban: a self-defrocked holyman turned mercenary cook in a far-off land containing a vast…
Tag: writers
A breed apart from ordinary humans, and responsible for much of their culture. Some would call them the salvation of humanity; others wouldn’t call them a cab.
Words to Bring Back: “Lacustrine”
– Definition: adj.; geological Of or pertaining to lakes. – Used in a sentence: I prefer deep-water sailing to the lacustrine variety. – Why: For one thing, it feels good in the mouth. However, I must admit to some self-service…
5 Thoughts: The Third Thing
1. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT frustrates me as a writer is my own self-limitation. Specifically, I am speaking of the notoriously difficult and bothersome Third Thing. 2. The Third Thing works like this. I will write a sentence that…
First Graf (well, page): Harold and the Purple Crayon
THE FIRST BOOK I EVER read from cover to cover was Crockett Johnson’s 1955 work, Harold and the Purple Crayon. If you’re not familiar with it, it goes like this: A small boy in one-piece pajamas draws with, well, purple…
Words to Bring Back: “Pernicious”
– Definition: adj. Having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle way. – Used in a sentence: Pernicious “tweets” should not become a presidential* standard. – Why: It’s enough out of current usage to possibly sound like a…
Words to Bring Back: “Parvenu”
– Definition: n. a person of obscure origin who has gained wealth, influence, or celebrity. – Used in a sentence: I like to think the electorate smiles unkindly on parvenus, but evidence indicates otherwise. – Why: Because, in the early…
Confessions of an Earnest High School Dropout
IT ENDED LIKE THIS: “MRS. J—–,” I said evenly, “you should work for the city sewer department instead of teaching English — because you know more about scat than you do about good writing.” Except I didn’t say “scat.” And…
Words to Bring Back: “Fabulous”
– Definition: adj. Of, like, or recorded in fable; fictitious; mythical – Used in a sentence: The current Administration* is doing a fabulous job. – Why: In its current usage, “fabulous” is synonymous with “great” or “excellent.” But I think…
Words to Bring Back: Declaim
– Definition: v. Utter or deliver words or a speech in a rhetorical or impassioned way, as if to an audience. – Used in a sentence: Less defaming, more declaiming. – Why: What with the rise of social media, the…
“NaSSWriMo!”
TODAY KICKS OFF THE WOULD-BE novelists’ annual motivational event, NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to write 1,667 words a day for a total of 50,000 by November 30. (I participated one year, and have a fairly mediocre…
It’s Really Spelled “Hallowe’en”
(TO BE CLEAR, IT’S ACTUALLY a slight abbreviation of the phrase “All Hallow’s Evening,” AKA “All Hallow’s Even,” AKA “Hallows E’en.”) There’s something to be said about archaic or alternate spellings / renderings. For example, a beloved English teacher once…
Words To Bring Back: “Patois”
– Definition: n. A type of local dialect. – Used in a sentence: His discourse was punctuated by a patois rich in “I know, right?” “Wait. What?” and “Yeah, no…” – Why: It’s a better (and more elegant and less…