Grammar and What it Means to Us and Everybody Else

I is one good girl. I likes banana and drinks five glass water the day.

The above sentence is wrong. It's very, very wrong. It does communicate as all the necessary information is there but, it barely counts as English, let alone good English.
I guaranty you that there is a language that would accept this sentence as proper, if it was translated, of course.

This fact serves to illustrate that the rules which we use and take pride in to construct prose aren't the only rules out there and the significance we attach to certain phrasing styles is based on what those before us have determined, as well as popular culture, not to mention many centuries of invading peoples.

What we can learn from this is...

Harshness has no place in the enjoyment of writing and neither do strict rules on how to do things!

I don't advocate clumsily strung together sentences and blandness is probably the worst thing that a story can communicate. I also don't like bad grammar.

However, there is wiggle room.

I'd really appreciate it if people stopped telling others that there's one way to do things. Not even the grammar and writing books agree with you there.

There's more than one way to do things in this world. Stop being so rigid, unless you're one of those English teachers or Literature professors, you know who you are. If so, it might be too late for you. You'll prove to be a good life lesson for your students on how to deal with difficult people.

(I'm not saying English teachers are inherently bad. I had plenty of good ones. Literature professors on the other hand...Well, hope springs eternal.)

I've Been Slipping

I try to keep from being too negative, most of the time, with strangers at least.

I've gotten better, honest, overall.

To be absolutely truthful I've been slipping for the last several weeks. Sanity, creativity and drive have gone out the window and my laptop is  still unusable. All of the hardware is usable, if anyone would fix it for less than a hundred and change, which they won't. The hard drive is fine, though. Unfortunately, I lost the screwdriver and now the hard drive is kinda stuck in the computer. Well, it is stuck. There's no kinda about it. Some of the connectors are also disconnected and the keyboard has some keys pried up because apparently my boyfriend and I are a bit like monkeys when we get annoyed. We can't just leave it alone. We gotta poke the damned thing, preferably with something pointy and metal.
No, we were like otters with a reallly big clam.

I do have a new computer now. Used new.  It runs on windows xp and I can't get the word processor that I had before on it. I'm less than pleased about that. Apache Open office is nice and all. I could even like it better but I need compatibility. The writing demands it. Microsoft word has been a pain for a while but I need it.

I'm thissss close to getting a typewriter and shoving it down someone's throat.

I'm also considering a career in comedy.

I saw a sign a few days ago that said, "Peaceful passification authorized."

What could it mean? I started looking around for gas dispensers just to be safe.

Perhaps I have a future on stage. I just have to get over my fear of rejection. Also, I need to get over the fear of being recognized from my...Other activities. No kidding, I dream that my sordid past will come to light.
 People will go, "Did you hear? She ate an ice cream cone seductively in elementary school."

I didn't know, okay! but I would be ruined forever.

Nah. That would be silly. I have nightmares about other things being exposed. It's probably nothing. Still, you don't feel special unless you have deep dark secrets. 

The book is being worked on, albeit erratically and with little focus or surety.
I am just now regaining my routine and I am considering pen names. I think this name, which I never liked much, is fine for Snow Sands and any related fantasy but I think the book I'm currently trying to finish might go under another name. I'm not sure. It's hard to be certain. We'll see. I'll go back to posting on Wednesdays. Probably stories. Maybe grammar, if I knew for sure what that was.

I hope I haven't bored or disturbed you.
Night.

Woe is Meeee

My computer is gone, my dog is dead and I don't have any money for Christmas presents.

I am also anemic, overweight and unemployed.

I think I'd like to go to Canada. Such a large quantity of trees.

Then again, who isn't plagued by problem's such as these.

I think I'll start a business. Maybe read.

Computer Go Bye

Greetings bipeds possessed of a computer, I have news.
It is quite shocking to read, not Only for you but for your machines.
It is with great dismay and regret that I inform you my computer, my only laptop and my shelter from the pressures of life, is lying, case pried open and components loose, hard drive removed, atop my troublesome scanner.

My boy friend took it apart after the power connection broke and that is when we learned that asus loves hidden screws. As, the laptop already had damage that a repair shop would have scoffed at so we were left with few choices and an interest in seeing the treacherous machine's innards splayed willy nilly.

Don't worry. The hard drive was fine and all the data is safe. But. I've the use of an iPad and it's only the recent acquisition of a stylus that has me typing this much. I shall try to keep in touch but my hands shake even now.

Happy Holidays!

A Writer With no Supplies Becomes a Reader With Lots of Time

So.
I have a story to tell, though it isn't much of one, in my humble opinion or anyone else's.
It begins with me being to rough with my laptop charging cable. I keep my room in a dreadful state, full of things on the floor, including my futon, which I don't fold over as often as I should since I need the space. I unplug my computer frequently and when I discover that the cable has been buried under twenty pounds of shite, I do the most obvious thing. I pull.

Well, I broke it. I noticed tearing and I taped it up with electrical tape and then, a day and a half or so later, my computer cable began to smoke, to flash to burn to sizzle. Whatever you want to call it, the plastic was melting. This lead to what felt like a week but might have been less of no laptop. Instead I had the family Ipad. While nice for looking things up, it's futile to try and type out a manuscript on that thing so I didn't. Instead I rediscovered my love for reading and actually read a Victorian romance. It was pretty good. It was, This Rake of Mine, by Elizabeth Boyle and while a few things just didn't make sense, it was still darned satisfying. My favorites were Miss Porter's charges, the meddling girls from Miss Emery's school.

Finally, I have a new charging cord. Now I can get back to writing, if I can tear myself away from all these books.
What a quandary

Yep.
Also, I think I might try a fantasy romance.

As for my assertions that I will stop blogging to work on other things, I don't think it's a problem. Whether I will be very regular is another matter entirely.

Thanks,

Cait

Abundantly Clear

I don't know what I'm doing.



I think that's abundantly clear.

But I am trying,
And I will gain some measure of success.
Because I am improving.

It's either publish books or plot to take over the world.


Oh, I've plotted the changes for Snow Sands. It will be spectacular!

I'm Done For a Bit

I'm going to stop posting for a while. I don't see much point in it. I have a lot to learn and my luck has been nearly nonexistent so I should concentrate on writing, marketing and cobbling together a plan for doing things, since right now, I'm walking around nearly blind.

I will leave you with one piece of advice. In my writing, I have discovered that publishing a free short story can help, yes, but it can only really be helpful if you publish it at the same time as your book since people may like something but not enough to go back and check if it's out yet. Convenience is one of the best things you can provide to get your work seen by more people and have them consider buying it.

Thanks,

Cait