But? There's always a but. When this is over, can we have a big 'but' moratorium?

Fred ,'Smile Time'


Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."


§ ita § - Jun 15, 2011 1:54:11 pm PDT #15278 of 28286
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

How close is too close? I vote for at least one space.


DavidS - Jun 15, 2011 1:54:40 pm PDT #15279 of 28286
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

This is why you need stone-word fences.


Sophia Brooks - Jun 15, 2011 1:56:13 pm PDT #15280 of 28286
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here

Good fences make good neighbors.


§ ita § - Jun 15, 2011 1:56:38 pm PDT #15281 of 28286
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Hey! Kidz! Get offa ma dangling participle!


Ginger - Jun 15, 2011 2:19:10 pm PDT #15282 of 28286
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda

I'd do a run of authors and blitz through a dozen Christies or (in my teens) MacDonalds, MacInnes, McLean.

When I find a new author, I still Read All the Books. A friend contends that if I could restrain myself, I'd be less likely to say things like, "Why would anyone go to the theatre with DCI Roderick Alleyn (Ngaio Marsh's detective)?"

My life wasn't bad or difficult, I have no idea why I needed so badly to escape it.

In high school, my life was in such a state that if I finished a book at night, I had to start a new one, in order to have a reason to get up in the morning.

I think that losing sentence diagramming was the beginning of the current steep decline in writing ability and, along with the designated hitter, a sign of the end of Western civilization.


Dana - Jun 15, 2011 2:53:07 pm PDT #15283 of 28286
I'm terrifically busy with my ennui.

"Why would anyone go to the theatre with DCI Roderick Alleyn (Ngaio Marsh's detective)?"

Or New Zealand.


Kathy A - Jun 15, 2011 6:14:03 pm PDT #15284 of 28286
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil

I don't remember doing any sentence diagramming in school, at least not the visiual mapping out of the sentence. When I saw an example of it in one of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, I was really confused by the concept.


askye - Jun 15, 2011 6:19:04 pm PDT #15285 of 28286
Thrive to spite them

I remember diagramming sentences in middle school. I thought it was fun, but now I can't remember how to do it.

I don't think I ever had required summer reading lists, but I read a lot. However, I was more inclined to reread books I loved or read everything in series or by an author, or on a topic I was interested in. I read Asimov's Foundation series in 2 weeks I think, I remember lying on my stomach with the cat curled on my back or sitting cross legged on my bed reading until I'd get a crap. I got interested in Westerns and started reading every bit of non fiction I could get my hands on.

It's hard for me to concentrate on something I can't get into so there are a lot of books I think I should read but I haven't.


Steph L. - Jun 15, 2011 6:25:14 pm PDT #15286 of 28286
I look more rad than Lutheranism

Fully 90% of errors are sentence boundaries. How the hell do I teach that crap?

If you figure it out, let me know, because I know many adults in the business world who have sentence boundary problems. I am SO tired of getting e-mails that read "If you would send me the notes from the Smith article."

And all I want to do is scream "If...WHAT?!?!?"


Polter-Cow - Jun 15, 2011 6:27:40 pm PDT #15287 of 28286
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

If what? That's it? If and here's a million dollars? If and here's your own spaceship?