Ramblings-n-Writings

Archive for November, 2007

Another week is here! Sorry I’m a little late posting this week’s menu! Actually, as you can tell, I’ve been in a blogging slump the past few days and this is my effort to get back on track.

A lot of this week’s menu is dependent on whether or not my parents come to visit for a few days. So, this one is definitely subject to change if they come.

Monday: Chicken broccoli alfredo (this is a meal from last week that was never made)

Tuesday: Clean out the fridge (a.k.a. leftovers)

Wednesday: Ravioli

Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday: Turkey surprise (I really have no idea because it is dependent on how much food is left from Thursday.)

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style, in the air there’s a feeling of Christmas… Silver Bells, Silver Bells, It’s Christmas time in the city….

Finally, the Christmas music has started and the snowflakes are falling!!!! I have been diligently checking the satellite radio channels on our television since the beginning of November waiting *patiently* for the music. The holiday channel has arrived!!! (By the way, out here in the sticks and due to the exact location of our house, the regular radio doesn’t work. So we take full advantage of the music channels that come with our television satellite.)

Appropriately, today’s Proverbs 31 devotional sitting in my inbox is a discussion about The Little Drummer Boy. Check it out here! The author of the devotional, Rachel Olsen, maintains a blog as well which may become one of my online daily spots.

Back to the snowflakes. Yes, I saw snow today!!!! The flakes were tiny, but it was still snow! And according to the weather radar, snow should have been falling for the last hour. However, from listening to the local weatherman, the snow is in the upper atmosphere and melts when it hits our warmer air (not too sure what’s so warm about the 30s) so the snow never makes it to the ground. Maybe the woolly caterpillar was right – it will be a harsh, cold, snowy winter…. I can always dream!

I came across the article below on Crystal’s blog at Biblical Womanhood and felt the necessity to share the story. I find myself gravitating towards these types of stories because of my current freelance editing WIP (work in progress) dealing with medical hot topics, such as abortion, stem cells and cloning. While many may not find the article particularly interesting, many will find it disturbing and possibly an eye-opener.

“….The doctor had just finished telling me I was going to have a low-risk pregnancy. She turned on the sonogram machine. There was a long pause, then she said, ”Are you sure you didn’t take fertility drugs?” I said, ”I’m positive.” Peter and I were very shocked when she said there were three. ”You know, this changes everything,” she said. ”You’ll have to see a specialist.” My immediate response was, I cannot have triplets….”

Continue the story and tell me if your heart was as disturbed as mine by the end… I can only ask the question “How? How could someone do that?”

Monday: Slow-cooked venison roast, potatoes, green beans
Tuesday: Stuffed shells with homemade cheeses, garlic bread, cauliflower
Wednesday: Chili with organic ground beef, rice, homemade bread
Thursday: Chicken broccoli alfredo
Friday: Leftovers with a back-up of ravioli or pizza or subs

I usually don’t plan Saturdays in case there’s a day in the week where the planned meal doesn’t go as planned. Typically on Sundays we eat at my in-laws after church so no need to plan that day either.

Check out Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie to get some more great dinner ideas!

Are you looking for a way to get on the good side of your editor? For those who don’t know, I spend a large majority of my time working as a freelance editor for a small publisher. I’ve learned a lot over the years and realize that every author writes differently and has a different style. However, for every author, the fundamentals of grammar remain the same.

Over the course of the past few months, I’ve become aware of some trends in how authors write and what I find myself editing in manuscripts. Having spent some time teaching high school English, I know that these trends are all things that at some point these authors were familiar with but more than likely filed away in the cobwebs somewhere.

So, consider this the first of many free words of advice on how to improve your own writing. My goal (which I may or may not meet all the time) is to post new words of advice every Saturday. The topics will more than likely come from my work during the week. If you have a particular topic you would like me to address, feel free to leave a comment!

1. Avoid sentences starting with “There is/are” or “It is/was” – These are weak sentence openings. With a little bit of creativity, your sentence can become much stronger. Watch the following….

• There are three kinds of people in today’s world – doers, procrastinators and slackers.
• Three kinds of people exist in today’s world – doers, procrastinators and slackers.
• In today’s world, people can be classified in three categories….
• Informal research shows that society is made up of three kinds of people….

Do you see the difference? Obviously, which variation you choose depends on the context. The point is that a concrete subject and action verb are far stronger than a filler word (there) and a linking verb. Think details. (By the way, sentences starting with “there” and “it” are pet peeves of mine. )

And a quick way to find the “there” and “it” culprits is to use your word processing program’s ‘find and change’ feature. Give it a try on your current project. You might be surprised how much you use these little guys.

2. Avoid filler adverbs. Adverbs are okay to use. Sometimes they add a lot to the meaning of a sentence. However, constantly inserting adverbs (and even adjectives) can make sentences tedious and unnecessarily long. Make sure that your adverbs are essential to the meaning of the sentence. If they are not, they need to go.

3. Avoid using the same phrases over and over again. For instance, one of my recent projects was filled with the phrase “in fact.” That’s a not a bad phrase, but when it appears in every paragraph, it becomes a nuisance. And sometimes, the information contained in the sentence really isn’t a fact. Other filler phrases are “that is,” “for example,” “for instance” and the list goes on. If you find yourself using the same phrase over and over, ask yourself if it is absolutely necessary. Do you need to precede every illustration with “for example” or will your reader understand that you are giving an example?

4. Commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks. No exceptions. Question marks and colons are dependent on the context.

That’s all for this week. Come back next Saturday for some more rules you can put into practice. Leave me a comment and tell me what you think. What do you struggle while you write or self edit?