Script Frenzy? To Do, or Not to Do?

So… do you do Script Frenzy? Have you ever? Is this your first year?

I have actually never done it before, though I have participated in NaNoWriMo for six years now.

I’m in the middle of editing one of my WIP’s right now, but I figure that I should probably need a break from it, come mid-March or so. So what do you think? Have you done Script Frenzy? How did it go?

1. I am perfectly aware that script writing is vastly different than novel writing. This might be the reason for my hesitation.
2. I already have several other WIP’s that I should work on. The intrigue of the unknown is calling me though.
3. I’m scared to death that I will fail. I have literally no clue what I am doing when it comes to writing a script. Obviously I get the general idea, but not the “How to”.

So with that all being said, Do or Not Do? That’s my question.

Popularity: 22% [?]

How to Avoid Common Writing Mistakes – Humor Edition

I have seen this before and had it posted on my other blog a few years back. I came across it again, made me smile, and I figured I’d just share it with all of you too. So, sit back and enjoy (and learn something too!

1. Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read.
2. Never use no double negatives.
3. Use the semicolon properly, always where it is appropriate; and never where it is not.
4. Reserve the apostrophe for it’s proper use and omit it where it is not needed.
5. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
6. No sentence fragments.
7. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
8. Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
9. When you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
10. A writer must not shift your point of view.
11. Do not overuse exclamation marks!!! (In fact, avoid them whenever possible!!!)
12. And do not start a sentence with a conjunction.
13. Place pronouns as closely as possible, especially in long sentences, as of ten or more words, to their antecedents.
14. Hyphenate only between syllables and avoid un-necessary hyphens.
15. Write all adverbial forms correct.
16. Don’t use contractions.
17. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
18. It is incumbent on us to avoid archaisms.
19. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
20. Steer clear of incorrect verb forms that have snuck into the language.
21. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixed metaphors.
22. Avoid modernisms that sound flaky.
23. Avoid barbarisms: they impact too forcefully.
24. Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
25. Everyone should be careful to use singular pronouns with singular nouns in their writing.
26. If we’ve told you once, we’ve told you a thousand times: avoid hyperbole.
27. Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.
28. Do not string a large number of prepositional phrases together unless you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
29. Always pick on the the correct idiom.
30. “Avoid overuse of ‘quotation’ ‘marks.’”
31. Never use more words than are necessary to get your point across: be concise.
32. Awayz check you’re spelling. (Your spellchecker would only pick up one of the two errors here.)
33. Always be avoided by the passive voice.
34. Every sentence a verb.
35. Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague: seek viable alternatives.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Where to write…

My very favorite place to write happens to be outside. In nature. Doesn’t matter so much where as long as its beautiful. In the Winter, its a lot harder for me to write anywhere outside because it is just too cold. So, instead I make myself nice and comfy on my sofa, grab a cup of coffee and put my laptop on my lap and go to town.

Well, with the great big family I have, my taking over the couch doesn’t always work, so sometimes I don’t get the space I need to spread out, which can seriously limit how much time I get to write AND how productive I am.

With our income tax check on the way, we decided to shop around yesterday for sectionals – which we desperately need with 7 people. The one pictured is the one we are ordering, and now we have to go find an ice blue paint to do the living room. What’s awesome about this sectional, is that it has that extra piece on the end… guess who gets it? Yep… mom. It allows me to stretch out when I want to, but also to just use it to set my laptop. I’m so excited!

I will totally take over that part of the couch, keep my writing gear and books close by and be totally satisfied… until the sun is shining again and its warm and I can get back outside to write and not freeze.

I used to have a writing office in my old house, for four years I have had to live with a small sofa that the kids all want to pile on at the same time. I cannot wait to be able to spread out and not shut the kids out at the same time.

Where is your favorite place to write?

Popularity: 9% [?]

Writing Inspiration… erm… sort-of!

My mom sent this to me because of course she immediately thought of me when she read it. It cracked me up, and I wanted to share it.

Just in case you need some writing inspiration. Every year, English teachers from across the USA can submit their collections of actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays. These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country. Here are last year’s winners:

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli, and he was room temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife’s infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another
city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.

18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

Popularity: 38% [?]