Let's talk about cursive

There was this post over at Daily Writing Tips talking about how people don't really write in cursive or by hand anymore because of computers and tech and all that jazz. (It's like a sillier version of the hard copy v. ebook debates, except hard copies are definitely better than ebooks. :P)

I don't mind writing by hand at all, but I really hate cursive. It's always seemed to be a really ridiculous way to write, not to mention it gets harder and harder to read the more often you use it. It's like print writing's horrible inverse. Plus, thanks to some school-hopping between second and third grade, I had to learn it three times. Kinda loses its charm after the second time.

*Looks at blog banner*

...

Oh my WOW, people.

I am now intimidated by the number of comments on Monday's post. It's kind of amazing how many kind of obscure lines got thrown out there.

Just to clarify. The post/contest will be closed to comments at 11:59 EST tomorrow night AKA 4/14. Or whenever Doctor Who finishes on PBS/WGVU. (Oh yes.)

Friday's going to be a Very Special Episode Post. So today, you get whatever the heck this is (just for reference, this was written in a cootie catcher). Because sometimes it's fun to do things a little differently.

Strangers
"Hey, 3:15 Guy."
"...What?"
"That's what I call you in my head. 3:15 Guy. Cuz you always come here at 3:15."
"Oh." Beat. "My name's Rory."
"Mine's Kaleigh."
"Can I have a root beer float?"
"Oh. Yeah!"

Friends
[Insert picture of Rory and Kaleigh here. Actually, you know what?]

Good enough.

Maybe.
   That's a good word for this.


Not Enough
"So... you haven't been around lately."
"Yeah, just don't have much time."
Beat.
"...Usual?" Read: Missed you.
"Yep." Read: You too.

Beginnings
"I need to ask you something."
"Yeah?"
"Do you like..."
"..."
"...Root beer floats?" This is code for someone.
"Do you?"
"...Well, isn't it obvious?"

--

Yeah, it's kind of open-ended, but it was fun trying to fit in a story on a cootie catcher.

So challenge! If you would like to. Try to write a story in a format other than the typical "Someone said, 'Dialogue,' and then there was prose." fashion. If you do it, just tell me, and I will give you a doodly-type avatar thing.

The Writer Nutrition Pyramid

It's a bit flawed, but then again, it's just a joke.

(I got a little bored.)

Qs for Yous*

*Title pilfered and modified from Rachelle Gardner. I am so sorry.

It's so beautiful outside that I can't concentrate on anything. I actually skipped class (OK, so that was more of the fact that I needed to go to the Secretary of State and get my registration renewed). So here are some questions for all of you out there.

Are you a plotter or a pantser? (To clarify, just in case: do you outline your stories, or do you make them up as you go along?)
I'm more of a plotter, but leave wiggle room.

Where's your starting point for writing? Do you usually think of the characters first? The basic premise? The plot? Title first? First sentence? Last sentence? A particular scene? Anything else I failed to mention?
I tend to flip-flop between the characters and the premise.

Music while you write?
Only instrumental here. Can't concentrate if it has words.

And now it's your turn. :)

Word Usage: Say what you mean to say

Earlier this evening, my friend Joe tried to define the word "manifest". I can't remember his exact wording now, but it was something like "something has a shape or it's known". And then I had a blog idea. :D

For the record, here's the dictionary definition for "manifest":

-adjective
1) readily perceived by the eye or the understanding; evident; obvious; apparent; plain: a manifest error.
2) Psychoanalysis . of or pertaining to conscious feelings, ideas, and impulses that contain repressed psychic material: the manifest content of a dream as opposed to the latent content that it conceals.
-verb (used with an object)
3) to make clear or evident to the eye or the understanding; show plainly: He manifested his approval with a hearty laugh.
4) to prove; put beyond doubt or question: The evidence manifests the guilt of the defendant.
5) to record in a ship's manifest.
-noun
6) a list of the cargo carried by a ship, made for the use of various agents and officials at the ports of destination.
7) a list or invoice of goods transported by truck or train.
8) a list of the cargo or passengers carried on an airplane.

Thank you, Dictionary.com. :)

Anyway, that just got me thinking about word usage and how it can be really easy to misuse a word. Like if you're not 100% sure what something means, but you say it or write it anyway. And then someone asks you what it means. Then what? Hate to sound rude, but you sound like you're just trying to be impressive.

Point is, if you're not 100%, you should just look the word up. If you know another word that more accurately fits the situation, use that word. It's OK if it's only two syllables. Honest! :D

And... yep. That's all.

Awesome thing of the day: "Date a girl who reads..."

Found this on the NaNo forums and had to share it.

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.

Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes. - Rosemary Urquico 

Let's face it. We are kind of awesome. :D

"So what's your major?" "Creative Writing." "Ohhhh."

You know those people.

--

"So you’re a student, huh?"
"Yeah, over at Western."
"What’s your major?"
"Creative Writing."
"Ohhhh. How interesting." Read: "Ohhh. You have no chance of ever making it in this world."
"Yeah, it's a lot of fun." Read: "You and I have very different definitions of 'making it'."
"So what kind of things do you write?" Read: "If you were a writer."
"Oh, sci-fi, fantasy, mostly speculative fiction. That sorta thing." Read: "I am a writer, and you are some random stranger who has no idea what I'm capable of."
"Are you ever going to write a book someday?" Read: "You probably haven't even attempted to write an actual book."
"Actually, I've written three." Read: "I've written three. Wench."

--

Paraphrased from an actual conversation.


Moral of the story? Don't let the cynics get you down. Never stop writing. Never stop doing what you love.