Love birds, too!
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Who or Whom?
Even the boldest, most confident
writers can cower in fear and sob with frustration when confronted with the
problem of whether to use who or whom in a
sentence. Heck, I know it confuses me.
Here’s the distinction: Use who to
refer to the subject of the sentence (“I am the person who you are looking
for”) and whom to refer to the object of the sentence (“Whom
have you invited?”)
If you’re still unsure about which
form to use in a sentence, try this test: Restate the sentence with a personal
pronoun, or, if it is a question, answer the question with one word. If the personal
pronoun in the restatement or response is he or she, who is
correct. If it’s him or her, whom is
correct.
Statement: “I have a friend who can help.”
Restatement: “He can help.” (Who is correct.)
Restatement: “He can help.” (Who is correct.)
Question: “Whom have you invited?”
Response: “Him.” (Whom is correct.)
Response: “Him.” (Whom is correct.)
Note, however, that sometimes you can
avoid the problem of determining which form to use by omitting a relative
pronoun altogether, and the result is often an improvement. For example, the
sentence “I am the person who you are looking for” is better rendered as “I am
the person you are looking for.”
Also, beware of these pitfalls:
“They’ll complain to whoever [not whomever] will listen” is
correct, because whoever is the subject of “will listen.” However,
“Whomever [not whoever] you hire is fine with me” is correct
because whomever is the object of hire.
Furthermore, use of whom in
a sentence such as “It was Smith and Jones whom we had to contend with” is a hyper-correction (“It was Smith and Jones who we had to contend with” is
correct, though the sentence is better with the pronoun omitted: “It was Smith
and Jones we had to contend with.”) Append a phrase containing the same pronoun
to realize how awkward this form is. (“It was Smith and Jones whom we had to
contend with, whom some among us feared.”)
These complications, and others, make
traditional rules regarding use of whom problematic; when even
experienced writers have to repeatedly pore through a grammar text to remind
themselves about the details, the distinction has ceased to be practical. The
fusty who/whom distinction is fading in conversational usage,
and it is my fervent hope that the use of whom except in
unambiguous “to whom” constructions will likewise atrophy.
Taken from DAILY WRITING TIPS
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Writer's Wednesday: An interview with Margus
Hello, everyone! Due to a few recent upheavals I have not yet formatted my latest author interview...and am now out of time. Therefore, this interview with the bad guy in the first four LORE books, and next week we'll hopefully be back on track.
Enjoy!
****
Margus
(Recorded outside the entrance to
the cave system contained within the Stairs Mountains on Valaris)
Blue: My lord, a word please?
Margus: Who are you?
Blue: Folk call me Blue and I record
the words of others.
Margus: You are akin to a reporter?
Blue: I am surprised you know what a
reporter is.
Margus: I did not attain adulthood in a
vacuum. My homeworld was advanced. How did you get here? Can you not see
Valaris is about to enter a state of war? What do you want? I should kill you
now and be done with this distraction.
Blue: Sometimes one needs take the
risk for posterity. You may not win this thing you are engaged in. I may never
speak to you again.
Margus: You definitely will not be
speaking to me again. I do admire your courage, however. You have two minutes.
Blue: How are you called and where do
you come from?
Margus: I am Margus and I come from a
world beyond the Rift.
Blue: We've heard a tear erupted in
space. And we also heard you brought an army with you.
Margus: My soltakin, yes.
Blue: The term is new to me. What is
a soltakin?
Margus: A wraith. A soul without a
body. It appears as a shadow and its touch is deadly. It hates and its sole
purpose is to kill. It wants, above all, to extinguish the light in everyone
and everything. Creatures after my own heart.
Blue: What is you plan for Valaris?
Margus: Valaris will be mine.
Blue: Was that Infinity I saw with
you a few minutes ago? Have you made a deal with her?
Margus: Your time is over.
Blue: Please answer the question…and
one other. I shall be on my way after.
Margus: I want the dara-witch’s
darklings under my control. The deal I made with Infinity will last only as
long as it takes to achieve that. Then? Use your imagination.
Blue: Yes, she is hard to abide, isn't she? Few will mourn her passing, I think.
Margus: Your final question.
Blue: Who is Margus the man?
Margus: I am no longer a man. Your
question has no relevance.
Blue: What are you?
Margus: I am the Darak Or, little girl.
Now get from my sight before I prove exactly what that is.
(Blue River Frond decides to
leave then. She never does speak to Margus again.)
****
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
A Mural of Infinite Scope
Love the title of this review! It's very Lore, a perfect fit!
Thank you, PD Allen!
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Review: Master of Miasma
LOVED THIS!
My review for Master of Miasma by Poppet:
This is a WOW! adventure into Norse legend brought to life
in our current age. Meet the Raven clan, go into battle with Eagles, know the
enemy in the wings as Wolf, and delve through snow and forest into a mountain
enclave created from the wonderful imagination of author Poppet.
Meet Emma, who finds her true self and destiny when she is
taken to a safe place by Macala…and Macala, reader, is definitely worthy of
discovery, a delectable, powerful being with a moral code and a romantic
streak. He takes on the task of bringing Emma into the fold, to teach her about
her true past…and sparks fly indeed.
Master of Miasma isn’t merely a great tale and, make no
mistake, it is a great one. Beyond the story is fantastic imagery, every line
is poetry, and the plot is cleverly woven. Ancient legends and magical spaces
and objects of power and imagination takes one from page to page actually
holding one’s breath. The Book of Life revealed in Master of Miasma is to die
for, if you’ll excuse the pun. How I wish we (us humans) possessed such a magical
thing, sigh. This is a brilliant and beautiful read, as if one’s soul
recognises a past time of pure enchantment.
This is profound…and it’s also an adventure to get lost with.
I cannot wait to read what comes next. FIVE STARS ALL THE
WAY!
Friday, March 22, 2013
How to name true:
First excerpt reveal of THE KINFIRE TREE!
Cover coming soon, as well as publication date.
(Meanwhile I'll begin building the dedicated page! Look for it overhead!)
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Writers Wednesday: Jenni James
Today we are privileged to speak with Jenni James! Jenni is a lovely and talented woman, mom and writer and Writing World feels honoured to have her with us.
WW: Hi, Jenni,
and welcome to Writing World! Tell us a little about yourself- who is Jenni?
Jenni: I am a recently divorced, single mother of
seven children, ranging from the ages of 2-16.
I was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona and then spent my high school
years (9-12 grade) in Farmington, NM. As
an adult I've lived in Phoenix again, the Azores Islands of Portugal, England,
Utah,and now Farmington, NM again.
I love to
sing, dance, act, paint, travel, cook, and host large parties. I really love taking my kids places and
showing them the world with me. We have
many adventures together, and I've never been afraid to load them all up and go
anywhere.
WW: In each of
us, I believe, there is a place for the magical, and your work encapsulates
that. Tell us about your writing journey. What sparked it for you?
Jenni: I never
wanted to be an author. Never. I thought it would be excessively boring to
do “homework” and write for months on end the same story, instead of just
reading one. I learned later how wrong I
was! When my first book came to me, it
kept me up for three days straight--the ideas, the plots, the characters, they
all began to speak to me. And I resisted
until I decided that sleep was more important than resisting. :) Once I began I couldn't stop. I learned how much more fun it is to write
your own novel than to read one. Pride
& Popularity was the first book and now I am currently writing my 15th... I
believe, though it will be my 12th published.
(the others will come out later).
WW: Our readers would love more detail about your books! Which book
would you say was the most difficult to write, and why?
Jenni: Sleeping Beauty, hands down was the most
difficult book to write. What would have
normally taken me a few weeks, took 5 months.
It is a story about a girl facing her fears, and as my divorce had just
happened, it was a terrifying, extremely painful, but oh, so healing journey
for me. It was Sleeping Beauty that
taught me to love writing again. Without
that book the Faerie Tale Collection would have never been completed.
WW: You have
really intriguing covers, they capture the eye and the imagination! Do you
create them yourself?
Jenni: Oh, goodness
no! My publisher the amazing StoneHouse
Ink has hired one of the best in the business:
Claudia McKinney to design all of covers. She is an angel with an incredible gift and I
am so very, very fortunate to be able to work with her. I just love this woman!
WW: What are you
working on right now?
Jenni: Right now, I am
writing Snow White. While editing Jack and the Beanstalk. I hope to be through with Snow White within
two weeks and then I’ll begin writing The Frog Prince, I believe...
WW: Is there
another side to Jenni James? Perhaps you have a crime thriller or murder
mystery waiting to be born?
Jenni: Lol! After I
pump out a few more of these fairy tales, I hope to be able to sit down this
summer and write out Revitalizing Jane, a woman’s fiction novel, that will
strike home in many ways.
WW and Jenni: I have to
throw this in! That list of favourites we’re all interested in!
Favourite
book: (How about author?) Judith A.
Lansdowne
Favourite
movie: Enchanted
Favourite TV
series: I don’t watch TV...
Favourite
colour: Purple and Silver.
Favourite
food: Mexican Food!
Favourite
drink: Water with lemon (so I can eat
the lemon)
Favourite
pet: Dog
Favourite
season: I love change, so I am excited with any season that comes
Favourite
place: Home, with my kids.
WW: What comes
next for Jenni, beyond a new book?
Jenni: I don’t know
yet. Right now, I am working on writing
as much as I can--becoming a full time writer--so that I may take care and
provide for me and the kids. My goal is
a nice house, we can really fit in--with new couches and my own office! lol!
I’ll see when/if that ever becomes a reality. But right now, I’m taking one day at a time,
just to learn and breathe and become me. :)
WW: And finally,
if you could choose one person, living or dead, you would like to meet, who
would it be and what would you ask of that person?
Jenni: I would love to meet Jane Austen and ask her
what she’s thinking of the Jane Austen Diaries, and if I've truly stuck with
her original moral and theme with each book.
I want to do them justice and I’d love to have her opinion. Hopefully it would be good! lol!
WW: And now, for our readers, here's the short version of Jenni's books (the short version, because there's so much to say about this talented lady's work, we'd need pages to do so!)
The Jane
Austen Diaries:
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Pride &
Popularity--is about Taylor, the most popular boy in school and Chloe who hates
popular people. He can’t figure out why
she doesn’t like him.
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Persuaded--is
about Amanda who is persuaded, by her friends, to reject the only boy she’s
ever loved, he comes back three years later and he’s tall, hot, strong, and
worth millions. Now all of her friends
are in love with him and he won’t speak to her.
Emmalee--is
about Emma who has everything, wealth, popularity, etc. and she is determined
to fix the lives of those around her to be as happy as she is. And Chase the guy next door who is determined
to fix Emmalee.
Northanger
Alibi--is about Claire who is addicted to Twilight. She gets to go to Seattle for the first time
ever, and she thinks she’s met a real vampire--he’s not. (By far the funniest book I’ve ever written!)
Middle Grade spiritual novel:
Prince
Tennyson-- is about a 10-yr-old girl who’s dad died in Iraq the year before,
and now she’s trying to prove if God is real or not. She wants to know if she’ll ever see her dad
again. --The man they called Prince
Tennyson, because of how handsome he looked in his uniform. (this book will make you cry--it is not a
challenge, it is a warning. So, so sweet.)
The Jenni James Faerie Tale Collection:
Beauty and
the Beast--Alexander is a werewolf. He’s
a prince by day and a wolf by night and he has one year to get a girl to fall
in love with him as the beast, except the only girl he can get to talk to him
absolutely hates the prince.
Sleeping
Beauty--Aleyna is under an enchantment, she is really asleep, but walks the
halls of her ruined castle (believing all is perfect) as a ghost, stuck in
time, awaiting for her prince to unlock the spell. Except, Prince Darien, the prince sent to
release her, is afraid of ghosts.
Rumplestiltskin--(My
personal favorite!!) Prince Frederico, was crippled by a witch as a small boy
and his family feared his new form--they disowned him and told the kingdom
their heir had died. He becomes Rumple-Stilt-Skin, because his skin is so
rumpled and stilted. Years later his brother is a cruel king when Aubrynn’s
father announces she can turn straw into gold. Rumple is determined to help her
without falling in love with her himself.
If she can figure out his real name Frederico, she will realize he is
the true heir to the throne and save her kingdom.
Cinderella--Prince
Anthony sees Ella Woodston dressed as a servant and pretends to be John, the
boy she used to beat at the horse races when they were children. He wants to know why one of the wealthiest
girls in the kingdom would be dressed so.
This journey for them both opens a new world as they fall in love and
become who they were each destined to be.
Hansel and
Gretel--when Hansel’s father finds a lost child, they soon realize she is the
princess of Larkein, the kingdom their king just invaded. Hansel pleads with
his father to save her and help her.
Years later, while Hansel is pushing away his growing attraction for
Gretel, the witch of Larkein disguised as a beautiful woman, marries their
father and sets the whole family in a tailspin as Hansel and Gretel battle for
their lives.
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Jack and the
Beanstalk--(the sequel to Hansel and Gretel) Jack’s fiance was taken by the
giant and he must travel with Jill, his sister, to Larkein to find a way to get
her back. Once there he meets his
father’s old enemy (the witch) and trades a cow for magic beans and a quest
that will truly prove his worth to his intended.
For more about this talented author:
Thank you so
much, Jenni, for spending time with us here on Writing World. We wish you every
success!