am, are, is, was, and were: bad words or not?

Recently a writing friend was told to eliminate from her writing as many state of being verbs as she could, i.e. "am, are, is, was, and were." I believe the state of being verbs problem isn't as serious as some writing advisers make it out to be. It's kind of a hobby horse, often ridden by [sorry] those whose grasp of grammar is shaky. For example, they don't completely understand passive tense. They think a statement like "he was drying the dishes when the ceiling fell" contains a passive verb, i.e. "was drying." It doesn't. "Was drying" is a present progressive verb and there's nothing wrong with using it. In fact, not using present progressive verbs can lead to confusion. For example, if you say "he dried the dishes when the ceiling fell," we don't know what you mean. Like he'd finished drying before the ceiling fell or what? Passive is something else. You're using passive when the object of the action is the subject of your sentence, e.g. "the dishes were dried by him" instead of "he dried the dishes" (active). A burning question: Where is this dish-drying guy when we need him?

faith and fiction

I'm interested in how religious faith, especially Christianity, is expressed in fiction (or not expressed even if the author subscribes to a certain faith). As I investigated the topic a bit, I came across the following websites. The first two deal with science fiction/fantasy. The third is more general. Hopefully I'll blog more on this topic in the future. If you have insights and information to add, please leave a comment. Thanks.

Science fiction/fantasy authors of various faiths—Christianity in its various forms, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. http://www.adherents.com/lit/sf_other.html

Religious science fiction links and major books—http://www.adherents.com/lit/sf_rel.html

Authors who are converts to a different religion—http://www.adherents.com/lit/sf_conv.html

resources for teen and other writers

Launched today by Harper Teen: An interactive site especially for teenagers. Offers feedback on their writing, encouragement, etc. Easily found by searching on the name of the site: inkpop.

 

Writing tools at the following site. They include an emotion thesaurus/ a setting thesaurus/ a color, texture, and shape thesaurus http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/

 

Resources on the arts, including "writing and poetry" at: http://www.artslynx.org/

 

Resources for writers, especially those writing about Scotland, at:

http://www.burryman.com/

 

 

 

five-minute chocolate cake

My husband's Aunt Ev Jeck sent me this recipe a few months ago. It seems to have been forwarded many times on the Internet. It works. Note from me: If you don't want chocolate cake, try omitting the cocoa, increasing the flour by 2 tablespoons, and adding your alternate chosen flavoring.

 

4 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil

3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

dash of vanilla extract

1 mug or jar that holds 2 cups of liquid (slope-sided works well)

 

Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.

 

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high). The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed. Allow to cool a little, and tip onto a plate.

 

 

 

querying an agent re: a novel

I'm no expert on query letters, but I can share some clues based on my research and experience.

1. The letter should be only a page long, about 250 words, even if you send it by e-mail.

2. The first paragraph should if possible indicate why you chose to approach this particular agent. This paragraph should also indicate what you're selling. A sentence like the following might be used: Since you represented THE MYSTERIOUS STRUDEL by Carol Ovenmitt, you may be interested in my 90,000 word literary novel CANDIED YAMS. [Use round numbers to indicate length of your novel, not some cumbersome number like 87,381. Capitalize book titles.] If you don't know of a suitable book the agent has represented, sometimes you can discover names of authors the agent admires. In that case you could use a sentence such as: Since you enjoy novels by Stanley Bloodletting, you may be interested in, etc.

3. The second paragraph should tell about the book. Try for a paragraph of no more than five sentences. Some experts recommend following a pattern something like this:

a. Tell what your main character wants.

b. Tell how the character tries to achieve the goal.

c. Present obstacles in the way of your main character reaching the goal.

d. End on a note of suspense, perhaps indicating a crucial choice the character must make.

e. Somewhere within this paragraph, if you can manage it, indicate something about the theme/s of your book. Themes typically relate to topics such as: overcoming fear, the power of love, the longing for home, the longing to leave home, following one's dream, taking responsibility for one's choices,.

4. The third paragraph should tell about you, especially as your education, experiences, and achievements relate to your writing of this book.

5. End by thanking the agent for his/her consideration. If you're querying by regular mail, include a self-addressed stamped envelope [SASE] and indicate you are doing this. Also include anything the agent requires in the submission guidelines; for example, a synopsis of the novel, the first chapter. [You can usually find a particular agent's submission guidelines on the Internet.]

Agnes moves to Moose Jaw

When I was growing up, Moose Jaw seemed like a big exciting city to me. It was a place where an adventuresome aunt or uncle might escape the limitations of our little community. Those memories inspired me to write the following short-short story. I'm not sure if I'm on Agnes's side, or if I sympathize more with her parents. What about you?

 

Agnes had a long face like her father’s. It contrasted oddly with her short-waisted figure but at twenty-one, she wasn't an unattractive woman. In fact, some people found her striking with her flaming hair and regal bearing. She was one of those women who know how to seem handsomer than they are.

            Though Agnes resembled her father, Doft, relations between them cooled in the autumn of 1945, when she announced her intention to marry Wren Wolford now that he was back from the war.

"Wren will never be a farmer,” Doft protested. “He’s only interested in hunting and fishing."

            “Wren’s not a Mennonite,” Agnes's mother pointed out. “I wonder if he’s even a Christian. Dad saw him come out of the beer parlor Saturday night.”

            After several stormy scenes, Agnes gave in. She wouldn't marry Wren. But a few days later, she packed her clothes and took the train to Moose Jaw. In the city she found the three things she wanted—a light-housekeeping room, a job, and a new boyfriend. The room was in the attic of a school friend’s cousin. The job was in the shoe department of the Army and Navy store. The boyfriend was a freight handler at the train station. In the years that followed, Agnes seldom came home, though her parents regularly brought borscht and jars of meatballs to her at the Army and Navy store.

 

postscript on computers and eyes

What I said in my previous post about adjusting refresh rate apparently applies only to CRT monitors [the big bulky ones], not to LCD monitors [the slim ones]. The technology of LCD monitors is different, though one can still adjust other things on them.