Buzz Kill

Her hand hovered over the buzzer. She wouldn't know until the last second if she could do it. Would she be the one to sound the death knell or would it be one of the other attendees? She gazed straight ahead, focusing on the overseer. Her hand was trembling a little, but she refused to set it down. If her hand was to be the one that dealt the final blow, she was going to commit herself to it completely. She owed it to the process; she owed it to her companions.

Her hand hit the buzzer. First.

"What is…."

Nice one Sail... though I'm wondering if she gets it wrong who dies.

You guys have been so helpful. I'm hoping you'll indulge me again. How does one properly reference the use of a letter of the alphabet in a sentence?

"flat, midwestern r's"... seems wrong because there's no ownership involved, and yet I don't know what would be better. What should it be?

AP Style says all single letters use an apostrophe to make the plural form. Two letter combinations, such as CDs, do not. I assume that's because without an apostrophe it would be confusing to talk about more than one A, I or U.

Maybe "flat, midwestern Rs" to set it off without the apostrophe?

eta: Ginger, FTW! I'm going to try to remember that one, too, because I know it's stumped me before.

Thanks Ginger. I should have thought to find a style guide... there's got to be one somewhere in this house. ...And Greg says no, we don't. I'll have to get one.

I like that Ellen, but I think I'll go with the AP and the capital R.

General you question: AP or Chicago for fiction writing?

Chicago, Deena. AP is really for journalism.

Awesome drabble, as always, Sail! Sail needs to write a whole novel in a series of drabbles. The best thing is, she totally COULD.

I'd have to, because I honestly can't write more than 100 words or I start to ramble so much, it all becomes an incoherent mess. That sentence being a hot example of why.

I sometimes think a series of connected short stories is the only way I'll get something novel length finished.

Thanks, Amy. I figured you'd know.

A lot of really good "novels" have been a series of connected short stories. The Dying Earth.

Don't know if the Gray Alys stories were ever separated out from Martin's other work and published as a novel, but they certainly could have been. "You can buy anything you might desire from Gray Alys. But it's better not to. ..."

uggh. I just lamented in my LJ. I hit that point where I'm embarassed about every word I've written and sorry I put any hopes and/or dreams in it.

Right about time. Halfway through. Can barely keep my head on straight I'm so sad about it.

I hate this part of writing. It's even worse than a block.