Punctuation Personalities

Which personality are you?

Period .
Never starts an argument but always finishes it.

Comma ,
Pauses often while speaking.

Em-dash --
Interrupts others with own thoughts.

Exclamation Mark !
Makes himself heard no matter what.

Question Mark ?
Asks uncomfortable questions.

Semi-colon ;
Loves bringing similar people together.

Elipses...
Often trails off on a tangent.

Colon :
Likes to introduce groups of people.

Quotation Marks " "
Tells you what everyone else says.

Parentheses (  )
Pulls you away from the conversation at hand.

Bookseer

You know that feeling you get when you've just read a fantastic book? It's a bittersweet dang-that-was-good combined with an I-want-to-read-another-just-like-it kind of feeling. But never fear...have I found a site for you!

Bookseer is just the place to visit. All you do is type in the title and author of the book you loved, and bam! It brings up a magical list of other books that are either just like it or is by the same author.

There you go. Problem solved. Next issue? World peace? Let me surf the net and I'll get back to you.

Messes

Is your house picture perfect? How about your life?

Tidbit: Politics

If you ever notice that I'm lacking new posts, it probably means I've been picked up by the NSA. Not that I've done anything wrong, but my Google searches prove I'm either really an author or some kind of freakish anti-American war monger.

Case in point: this week I've been researching Mexican drug cartels. Whoa. Think of the worst Hollywood-type shoot-em-up blood-n-guts scene you can possibly imagine, then times that by ten. These boys are some kind of bad--the most evil, vicious kind.

Which makes me wonder about the ongoing "war on drugs." Don't get me wrong. I think drug use is--putting it mildly--a sin. It destroys bodies, families, souls, and society. But (and I've always got a big but) think what if for a moment...

What if drugs were legal? Bam. End of cartels. They'd be out of business. Just like Prohibition ended the booze gang-bangers.

Of course, that would open up a whole new can of worms. There are no easy answers, which is why I write fiction. I can play around with scenarios and no one gets hurt.

What's Up with the Dystopian Craze?

I started reading Divergent last week, mostly because I wanted to see what all the hype was about and because I wanted to finish the dang thing before the movie comes out...which I neglected to do in the case of The Hunger Games. Anyhoo, the first half kind of drags, but mid-way it really picks up and now I'm finally hooked, enough to to toodle over to Amazon and buy the next 2 in the series.

The story is rather bleak, which is a given being that it's a dystopian. Still, there's no denying this book is flying off the shelves and readers are clamoring for more. My question is why? What is the underlying appeal of reading end of the world type stories? After noodling that for awhile, I came up with some handy dandy reasons...

3 Reasons Why Dystopians Are In Demand

#1. Because as crappy as our world is, it can always get worse.
Immersing ourselves in a fictional environment that's even more horrific than our own makes a reader feel better about their own messed up life. Yeah. I know. Sick and twisted, but true...kind of like watching a train wreck.

#2. Because maybe--just maybe--society at large will wake up and stop the political/power-grabbing madness.
By reading about worst case scenarios, hopefully people will rise up and/or band together to prevent an all-out war from splitting society apart.

#3. Because the heroes in dystopians are HEROES.
Everyone loves to see an underdog win, especially an underdog who's up against impossible odds. There's nothing wimpy about the characters in dystopians. Those that are die. Dystopian heroes suffer more than regular heroes and generally still come out on top, making them admirably drool-worthy.

Writing: It's Not Just For Breakfast Any More

Let's roam outside the neighborhood of novel writing. Just because you don't write books does NOT mean you're not a writer. There are a bajillion other ways you can use your sweet writing skills to enhance other's lives that doesn't involve months and months of plotting and story arcing.

Need an example or two? Here's a little something I whipped up last night for my daughter's upcoming bridal shower:

Very short. Simple. Yet without the words (translation: writing) on this invitation, no one would know where to go or what to do.

Here's another idea: Christmas cards. Yep, it's that season again. Why not put together some words that are meaningful? Doesn't have to be long, in fact, it's better if it isn't.

Commenting on a post on Facebook counts as writing. So does tucking a note in your kid's lunchbox, your significant other's briefcase, or penning a letter to the editor.

The point is that there's nothing magical about being a writer, like they're some kind of unicornish animal. Everyone has a writer inside that's screaming to be let out. Let that muse run free in all kinds of crazy writerly ways, then share your writing successes here. I'll give you a palm-stinging high-five.

What? You're still here? Go write!

What Makes a Reader's Heart Smile?

Think about some of your favorite books. What's the one thing that's the same in all of them, no matter the genre? Go ahead. I'll give you a minute.

The answer is relationships. It's the human condition. The best kinds of reads are about strained relationships that end up happily ever after. And before you think you can stump me with something like Black Beauty, unh-unh. While the main character in Black Beauty is a horse, the story is about Beauty's relationships to people.

Why is that? Is it the ol' misery loves company kind of thing? Is it some sick and twisted need to peek through a window into someone else's life and compare notes on how crappy relationships can be?

I don't think so. Well, for most people, anyway. I think when readers see how characters go through trials and tribulations with those they love--even if they're fictional--it gives us hope for our own broken relationships.

Unless you live in a bubble, drama is part of life, and life is messy. When stories take those elements and shape them into something good, a reader's heart smiles.