Annoying Words and Phrases

No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut. - Sam Rayburn

With Christmas behind me, I can forget about shopping and focus on the upcoming New Year. I’d like to start 2011 off on the right foot. For instance, when speaking to people, I want to do my best to not irritate them with words or phrases they find annoying. Thanks to a recent Marist Poll of 1020 adults, I know the top five offenders.

“Whatever” heads the list as the most annoying word in the English language garnering 39% of the vote. “Like” was second with 28%. “You know what I mean” came in third with 15%. “To tell the truth” followed with 10%. “Actually” earned 5% of the vote.

According to their statistics, people over the age of 45 with no children in the household found “whatever” slightly more annoying than the group consisting of 18 to 29-year-olds. This second group found “like” more annoying. You can find the specifics of the demographic breakdown here.

Whatever is usually a conversation ender, so there’s less likelihood of it being overused during a single discussion than the other four words. However, none of annoying words bother me—maybe because I know I’ve used them all at one time or another.

If I had been asked, I would have nominated, “my bad.” Though I’ve learned that it’s a flippant apology, when I hear this phrase I want to ask, “My bad what?” My husband says this shows my age and my complaint would cause most people to LOL. He’s probably right.

Whatever.

What word or phrase would you select as the most annoying?

There are only a few days left to participate in Darcia Helle’s Indie Books Holiday Giveaway, so be sure to hurry over to enter if you’ve been procrastinating.

Wishing you all a safe, happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you next week

Tags: Sam Rayburn, annoying words, my bad, Darcia Helle, Indie Books Giveaway,

Methods Not to Use When Writing Detective Stories

Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. – Arthur Conan Doyle, Sr.

I haven’t written a detective story, but I think it would be fun to try my hand at it someday. After all, I think they’re fun to read or to watch on TV. Like working a crossword without peeking at the answers, trying to figure out the “whodunit” part before it’s revealed is the main attraction for me.

As with any genre, there are rules about what you can and cannot do. I recently ran across a list of twenty "laws" on writing a detective story by S.S. Van Dine (pseudonym for Willard Huntington Wright). He died in 1939 before DNA and other sophisticated methods were used for crime solving, but his is an interesting list. I thought I’d share a few of his guidelines with you.

The reader must have equal opportunity with the detective for solving the mystery. All clues must be plainly stated and described.

There must be no love interest. The business in hand is to bring a criminal to the bar of justice, not to bring a lovelorn couple to the hymeneal altar.

The detective himself, or one of the official investigators, should never turn out to be the culprit. This is bald trickery, on a par with offering some one a bright penny for a five-dollar gold piece. It's false pretenses.

There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse the better. No lesser crime than murder will suffice. Three hundred pages is far too much pother for a crime other than murder. After all, the reader's trouble and expenditure of energy must be rewarded.

A servant must not be chosen by the author as the culprit. This is begging a noble question. It is a too easy solution. The culprit must be a decidedly worth-while person — one that wouldn't ordinarily come under suspicion.

My favorite, though, is his last credo listing “…a few of the devices which no self-respecting detective story writer will now avail himself of.” According to Mr. Van Dine, “To use them is a confession of the author's ineptitude and lack of originality.”

The devices are: (a) Determining the identity of the culprit by comparing the butt of a cigarette left at the scene of the crime with the brand smoked by a suspect. (b) The bogus spiritualistic se'ance to frighten the culprit into giving himself away. (c) Forged fingerprints. (d) The dummy-figure alibi. (e) The dog that does not bark and thereby reveals the fact that the intruder is familiar. (f) The final pinning of the crime on a twin, or a relative who looks exactly like the suspected, but innocent, person. (g) The hypodermic syringe and the knockout drops. (h) The commission of the murder in a locked room after the police have actually broken in. (i) The word association test for guilt. (j) The cipher, or code letter, which is eventually unraveled by the sleuth.

If you write detective stories, do you follow Van Dine’s credos? Do you have your own set of rules? When reading a detective story, what sort of device irritates you?

For Van Dine's entire list, visit Gaslight.

If you haven’t already, remember to stop by to enter in Darcia Helle’s Indie Books Holiday Giveaway for your chance to win one of hundreds of print and eBooks. Entry is easy.

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope to see you next week.

Tags: Arthur Conan Doyle, S. S. Van Dine, Willard Huntington Wright , writing detective stories, Indie Books Giveaway,

Become a fictional character

A writer should create living people; people, not characters. A character is a caricature. - Ernest Hemingway

Author Jasper Fforde’s characters have the enviable ability to literally jump in and out of books. For instance, in the first book of the series, The Eyre Affair, when the villain Acheron Hades kidnaps Jane, it’s up to the protagonist, Tuesday Next, a special ops in the Literary Division, to save the title character and the book. In the second book, Lost in a Good Book, Tuesday Next hops in and out of The Trial (Kafka), Great Expectations (Dickens), Alice in Wonderland (Carroll), and The Raven (Poe).

What fun it would be if we were able to meet the characters of our favorite books in this manner.

Though it’s not possible to leap into books except in our imagination, there is now a way to become a character in a book by a prominent author. Through December 20th, authors including Thomas Perry, Jane Smiley, Stuart Woods, and Dave Eggers are featured on a charity auction on eBay to raise money for the First Amendment Project. Click here to see the entire list of writers involved.

The authors are auctioning off characters in future books. According to the site, “Your name can be an FBI agent or a stripper with a heart of gold in the next entry in Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooters series; a villain or a victim in Thomas Perry’s next entry in the Jane Whitefield series, a wounded World War I soldier or drunken Bohemian in Andrew Sean Greer’s next novel, as a character in a new musical by Janet Burroway, or a character in a cartoon series by Ben Katchor, Chris Ware or T Campbell…”

The last time I checked, the highest bid was $500.00 for the stripper character in Brockmann’s series.

My characters tend to take control at some point in the writing process. I assume this happens to other writers. If the characters suddenly decide not be killed off or go down the path the author intended, it’s possible (though not probable) the winners might find themselves as the protagonist/antagonist in a popular new series.

Would you bid to have your name become a character in a book? What sort of character would you like to be? If you could pop into a book to mingle with the characters, which book would you choose?

Just a reminder about the opportunity to win books (no bidding required) at Darcia Helle’s Indie Books Holiday Giveaway. I’m excited to be among the forty-seven authors who are offering hundreds of free print and eBooks. Click here to see the list of participating authors and books. Entry is simple. Click here for the form.

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope to see you next week.

Tags: Hemingway, Fforde, The First Amendment Project, eBay auction, Darcia Helle, Indie Books Giveaway,

National Authors’ Day and Other Important Announcements

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. – William James

Whenever I begin to wonder why I blog, something will come along to remind me. I received one such reminder in September when I read an email from Chris Price regarding a post I’d written in 2009 about National Authors’ Day.

It seems that Nellie Verne Burt McPherson, the woman credited with the idea of setting aside a day to celebrate American authors, was her great grandmother. Though she was only five when Mrs. McPherson passed away, Chris described some of her memories. She recalled her great grandmother reading to all the children who would listen. Once, when she read so much she lost her voice, she asked the kids to tell her about the books she’d read to them over recent weeks. According to Chris, “To hear my Mother and Aunt tell the story, it was quite the interesting interpretation of stories read.”

The note went on to read, “Anyway, I just wanted to say Thank You for what you do and be assured that this year, November 1, 2010, I will be reading one of YOUR books.”

I can't think of anything that tops that kind of note.

I found additional information about Nellie McPherson on answers.com.

“The idea of setting aside a day to celebrate American authors came from Nellie Verne Burt McPherson, president of the Bement (Illinois) Women's Club in 1928. McPherson was a teacher and an avid reader throughout her life. During World War I, when she was recuperating in a hospital, she wrote a fan letter to fiction writer Irving Bacheller, telling him how much she had enjoyed his story, "Eben Holden's Last Day A'Fishin." Bacheller sent her an autographed copy of another story, and McPherson realized that she could never adequately thank him for his gift. Instead, she showed her appreciation by submitting an idea for a National Author's Day to the General Federation of Women's Clubs, which passed a resolution setting aside November 1 as a day to honor American writers. In 1949 the day was recognized by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Sue Cole, McPherson's granddaughter, was largely responsible for promoting the observation of National Author's Day after her grandmother's death in 1968. She has urged people to write a note to their favorite author on this day to "brighten up the sometimes lonely business of being a writer." Flying the American flag on November 1, according to Mrs. Cole, is another way of showing appreciation for the men and women who have created American literature.”

I’d like to say thank you, Nellie McPherson! My gratitude also goes to Sue Cole and Chris Price for following in Mrs. McPherson’s footsteps.

I checked local events and still found no mention of what I think should be a major holiday. Hallmark may have missed coming out with cards for this occasion, but that shouldn’t stop us from writing our favorite author or a newly emerging writer in hopes of brightening their day as much as the note from Chris brightened mine.

Are there any celebrations in your area? If you wrote to an author, who would it be?

Though I usually post only on Mondays, I’m making an exception this week. On Saturday (11/6), I’ll be hosting Stephen Tremp, author of Breakthough. I hope you’ll make plans to visit. In the meantime find out more about Stephen and his book by visiting his blog.

One more announcement before I go. Author Darcia Helle of A Word Please is organizing a huge giveaway event that will run through the month of December. It will be hosted on her website and blog. Participating authors will be cross promoting on their own blogs, as well as through various social networks. All indie authors (self-published and small press) are welcome to participate. You can offer as many (or as few) titles and copies as you'd like. Both print and e-books are welcome. She’ll be sending out press releases and doing tons of promotion. She already has about 300 books to give away! I’m looking forward to taking part in this big event. If you’d like to participate, be sure to send Darcia an email at darcia@quietfurybooks.com before Nov. 15.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Tags: National Authors Day, Nellie McPherson, Stephen Tremp, William James, Darcia Helle,

Gender-Bias in the Literary World

I love to be individual, to step beyond gender. - Annie Lennox

A few months ago I read an interesting blog about gender-biased reviews at Darcia Helle’s, A Word Please . Darci mentioned reading a Sisters in Crime newsletter which said that approximately 67% of reviews went to male authors while 33% went to female.

According to Darcia:

“Sisters in Crime monitors 42 publications. Of those, only 3 gave more reviews to female mystery authors. These were the San Francisco Bay Area’s Contra Costa Times, the Annapolis Capital, and Romantic Times. Of the remaining 39 that slant toward male writers, some of the statistics are astounding. For instance, 100% of the mystery novels reviewed by Detroit Free Press were written by men. They didn’t review one female mystery author all year! The percentage of male authors reviewed in other leading publications include: Ellery Queen at 76%, Entertainment Weekly at 72%, the New Yorker at 75%, and the Washington Post at 79%.

Looking at these statistics, a person would be forgiven for assuming that there are simply more male mystery authors to review. This, however, is untrue. The split is almost even.”

Two popular female authors, Jennifer Weiner and Jodi Picoult, recently added more fuel to this debate according to an article in the Huffington Post, “When Is a Literary Feud NOT a Literary Feud?” by Lisa Solod Warren.

The article states:

“The two women say Franzen is getting too much play for his new novel Freedom (which, incidentally hasn't even hit bookstores yet) and that his subject matter is one that women like them write about all the time but for which they never receive the kind of press Franzen is getting (the cover of Time being the breaking point, perhaps). Picoult is quoted as saying that the New York Times favors " white male authors" and Weiner, in the Huffington Post, says that she thinks "it's a very old and deep-seated double standard that holds that when a man writes about family and feelings, it's literature with a capital L, but when a woman considers the same topics, it's romance, or a beach book -- in short, it's something unworthy of a serious critic's attention."

I don’t agree with the author of the article when she goes on to say things like, “The truth is that authors like Picoult and Weiner can't hold a candle to Franzen.” Or “It seems more about professional jealousy than equal coverage or women's rights.” Or “One benefit of reviews in mainstream, influential publications like Time and the New York Times is to introduce readers to writers who may not be on the average reader's radar.”

I tend to agree more with an article by Tina Jordan on shelf-life.ew.com titled, “Stop calling it chick lit!” She writes:

“As far as the Times goes, Weiner and Picoult are correct: The newspaper absolutely does have a bias towards white male authors (if you doubt this, go do some counting yourself). Look and see how many men in the last year got both daily and Sunday reviews — and then compare how many women were accorded that honor. Check the number of mentions Gary Shteyngart has gotten in the last month, and then do the same for Mona Simpson, a novelist of equal literary acclaim. (Their most recent works came out at roughly the same time this summer.) Simpson did get a profile, it’s true. Of course, it ran in the Style section, not the Arts section.”

My favorite part of the article was:

“The chick lit issue is equally bothersome. It’s never failed to irritate me that the smart, funny, achingly real Good in Bed should be dismissed as “chick lit,” with all its dismissive, derogatory implications. This isn’t a novel about sex and shopping. Would we demean brash, action-packed adventure novels by calling them “dick lit”? No, we would not. (Although if the “chick lit” tag persists, maybe we should.)

My research team (better known as my sister) sent me the following email, “… after discussion last night I thought I'd count the reviews of male vs female authors this week in the Wall Street Journal. HA! Their current list of book reviews has 12 books by men and 5 by women (I didn't count the two books that were co-authored by a man and a woman, but then it would have been 14 to 7).”

I tried to find statistics on percentage of men to women writers in various genres, but came up empty handed. Regardless of the numbers, I think it’s clear there is a bias. However, I have no idea what can be done about it.

Do you think gender-bias reviews are a problem? Do you have any solutions?

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope to see you again next Monday.

Tags: Annie Lennox, Darcia Helle, sisters in crime, gender bias, book reviews, Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Weiner, Frantzen,Wall Street Journal,New York Time book review,

Memorial Day Facts Revisited

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes! - Maya Angelou

I hope you all are enjoying the long holiday weekend. I know that I am as I've given myself the day off…well, after a few announcements.

Recently Darcia Helle from A Word Please interviewed Edward Patterson who founded and runs a group called Operation e-Book Drop (OEBD). This group provides free e-Books to the men and women in military service. I plan to offer my novel, The Ride and thought some other authors might be interested in this organization also. If you know anyone in the coalition forces who are deployed, you might want to let them know about the opportunity to download free e-Books. Find out more by emailing Edward Patterson edwpat@att.net or visit Operation e-Book Drop.

Be sure to stop by Darcia’s blog for the full interview and more information.

On Thursday, June 3, I’ll be a guest blogger at Nancy Famolari’s Place talking about character names. I hope you’ll have the opportunity to stop by.

Now, for those who missed it last year, I am posting a rerun of Memorial Day Facts.

My family, at one time or another, has had members in every branch of the military except for the Coast Guard. Yet the only thing I knew about Memorial Day was that it was set aside to honor Americans who died in battle. That’s a bit embarrassing, so I decided to dig deeper. Here are a few things I found out:

It was originally called Decoration Day.

Proclaimed by General John Logan on May 5, 1868, it was first observed on May 30 of that year by placing flowers on Union and Confederate graves at Arlington National Cemetery.

New York was the first state to officially recognize the holiday in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all northern states.

The South refused to acknowledge the day and honored their dead at a different time until World War I. At that time, the day was changed from honoring those who died fighting in the Civil War to Americans who died fighting in any war.

There are disputes over which town first came up with the idea, but in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, New York, the birthplace of Memorial Day.

In 1915, Moina Michael came up with the idea of wearing red poppies on Memorial Day after writing the following poem:

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

Since the late 50's on the Thursday before Memorial Day, the 1,200 soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry place small American flags at each of the more than 260,000 gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery. They then patrol 24 hours a day during the weekend to ensure that each flag remains standing.

To help re-educate and remind Americans of the true meaning of Memorial Day, the "National Moment of Remembrance" resolution was passed in 2000 which asks that at 3 p.m. local time, all Americans "To voluntarily and informally observe in their own way a moment of remembrance and respect, pausing from whatever they are doing for a moment of silence or listening to Taps."

Many people today think of Memorial Day only as a chance to have a cookout and celebrate a three-day weekend. A movement, Help Restore the Traditional Day of Observance, is an effort to bring respect back to the day.

For more information visit usmemorialday.org. Also at history.com There’s also a touching video. Unfortunately, it’s preceded by a brief commercial but still worth watching as a reminder of what so many men and women have gone through for our country.

One can only hope that there will come a time when people of the world can live together in peace and future generations will only know about war from what they read in history books. In the meantime, my wish is that the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan stay safe and return home soon.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Tags: Maya Angelou, Memorial Day, General Logan, Decoration Day, Moina Michael, poppies, operation e-bookl, Darcia Helle,

Introducing Darcia Helle

“The ornaments of your house will be the guests who frequent it.” - Author Unknown

Through Virtual Book Tours, I have met many talented authors. Today I am pleased to introduce one of these authors to you, Darcia Helle.

Darcía says she writes because, "My head gets cluttered with characters that demand their story be written."

Darcía is a fiction author of mystery/suspense. She currently has four books, published Enemies and Playmates, Hit List, No Justice and Beyond Salvation, and is at work on number five. Darcía also writes a monthly nonfiction, crime-related newsletter called Guilty As Charged. The newsletter covers a wide range of topics, from the history of burning at the stake to modern-day serial killers.

Words are Darcía's addiction. She will read just about anything: novels, biographies, history, sociology, ingredient labels...

Darcía grew up in Massachusetts but has lived in the Tampa Bay area of Florida since 2002. She is married and has two sons. An animal lover, Darcía has two very spoiled dogs and two equally spoiled cats.

Darcía's website is her own creation. There you will find excerpts from her books, newsletters, monthly contests, blog, and a few pages of things to make you smile.

Her book, No Justice, addresses the question, “How far would you go to right a wrong?”

For Michael Sykora, killing started as blind rage. Then it became something he's good at. To most of those who know him, Michael is a software designer, a smart but average guy with a workaholic nature. To a chosen few, Michael is a part-time hit man whose specialty is eliminating hard-core criminals.

Michael has managed to keep his two personas separate. Until now. When Nicki, a close friend, gets into trouble, Michael steps in to help. Having lost his fiancé to a brutal crime, Michael will do whatever necessary to keep from losing another woman in his life.

At one time or another, don't we all wish we could do the things our Justice system cannot or will not? What would it take to push you over the edge?

Here are a couple of excerpts from the reviews for No Justice on Amazon:

The characters in this book are believable, the scenes are easy to visualize, and the quest for justice is one that has tempted all of us who have been wronged. I highly recommend this book to everyone who has been a fan of John D. McDonald, Robert Crais, Robert B. Parker, or Evan Hunter. I am waiting patiently for Darcia Helle's sequel to No Justice. – Joe Prentis

I love it when a book begins with an intriguing first line - one that immediately captures my attention and draws me in through the need to know more. No Justice does that. I instantly wanted to sit for the rest of the day just reading it. – Martha Jette

To find out more about Darcia or to buy her books, visit her web page , blog, Amazon author page or Books On Amazon.

Feel free to leave your comments or questions for Darcia.

If you have a few extra minutes drop by Heidi M. Thomas, where I’m talking about writing in another genre and I’m also looking for reference book recommendations.

I hope you’ll have an opportunity to stop by and visit some of the other interesting and talented VBT authors, also. You’ll find the complete list at VB, Writers on the Move. If you leave a comment on this month’s mystery site, you’ll have the opportunity to win a prize.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: Darcia Helle, Virtual book tour, VBT, No Justice, Heidi Thomas,

Happy Birthday, Mark Twain!

"My books are like water; those of the great geniuses are wine. (Fortunately) everybody drinks water." – Mark Twain

November 30 is the anniversary of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), better known to most of us as Mark Twain. As a tribute to his special day, I thought I’d share some of the lesser known facts about his writing career and life.

Before selecting the pseudonym of Mark Twain, he wrote under the pen name of Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass for three humorous pieces he contributed to the Keokuk Post (Iowa).

He first used the name Mark Twain on an article published in the Nevada Territorial Enterprise in 1863. The name came from his boat skipper days. To test the depth of the water, a crewman shouts "mark twain!" The crewman is calling for two fathoms, or a depth of 12 feet, which is barely enough for a boat to navigate safely. "Twain" is an old-fashioned way of saying "two" and a fathom is six feet.

The short story, The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, published in a New York paper in 1865, is credited for making him an overnight celebrity after it was quickly reprinted throughout the country. His first published book, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County was a collection of 27 short stories that had been previously published in magazines and newspapers. It was published in 1867.

He was the first writer to incorporate himself as an enterprise and trademark his name.

In 1872, he patented the self-pasting scrapbook which was marketed as "Mark Twain's Patent Scrapbook." Keeping track of various clippings of what others were saying about him, led him to discover a way to improve the scrapbook. Supposedly he made $200,000 from all his other books, and $50,000 from the scrapbook alone.

He created a game called Mark Twain’s Memory Builder, A Game for Acquiring and Retaining All Sorts of Facts and Dates. He originally conceived the game as a way to help his daughters learn historical dates, but it quickly grew in his mind into a marketable commodity that, he hoped, would sweep the country.

His first novel, The Gilded Age, 1873, was in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner. The first novel he wrote alone was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

He received an honorary Doctor of Letters from Oxford in 1907 and enjoyed wearing the scarlet robe for the rest of his life.

He wore a white suit in the winter of 1906 to testify to Congress about copyright and then continued to wear one year round.

In 1894, over $100,000 in debt, he declared bankruptcy. To make money to pay his creditors, he arranged a lecture tour that began in Cincinnati in July, 1895, and ended a year later in Cape Town, South Africa.

During his lifetime the most popular of his books was his first one: Innocents Abroad, published in 1869.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn took him longer to write than any other of his books, from 1876 until 1884. Three months after it was published, it was banned by the Concord Public Library in Massachusetts.

He is quoted as saying, “I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming next year, and I expect to go out with it.” He died one day after the comet’s perihelion.

Do you have a favorite Mark Twain book, story, or bit of trivia?

SPECIAL NOTE: I usually post only on Mondays and Thursdays. However, tomorrow as part of the VBT, Writers on the Move, I am making an exception so that I can introduce you to Dacia Helle, author of Enemies and Playmates, Hit List, No Justice and Beyond Salvation.

I’ll be doing a guest post over at Heidi M. Thomas, where I’m talking about writing in another genre and I’m also looking for reference book recommendations.

At VBT, you’ll find a list of authors and hosts. I hope you’ll have an opportunity to stop by and visit some of the other interesting and talented authors as well. As usual, with VBT’s monthly tours, you’ll have a chance to win a prize by leaving a comment on the mystery site. See VBT for more details.

Thank you for stopping by.

Tags: Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, VBT, The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County , Heidi Thomas, Darcia Helle, Halley’s Comet,