So Close to Winner Number 2!

Only 10 more followers needed at Papers, Prose and Poetry and I'll add a prize for a second winner! I'm thinking something literary....or critiquey......only one way to find out!!

Friday Funnies

An English professor wrote the words
"A woman without her man is nothing"
on the chalkboard and asked his students to punctuate it correctly.

All of the males in the class wrote:
"A woman, without her man, is nothing."

All the females in the class wrote:
"A woman: without her, man is nothing."

 

The English Language

Have you ever wondered why foreigners have trouble with the English Language?

Let's face it
English is a stupid language.
There is no egg in the eggplant
No ham in the hamburger
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.
English muffins were not invented in England
French fries were not invented in France.

We sometimes take English for granted
But if we examine its paradoxes we find that
Quicksand takes you down slowly
Boxing rings are square
And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

If writers write, how come fingers don't fing.
If the plural of tooth is teeth
Shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone beeth
If the teacher taught,
Why didn't the preacher praught.

If a vegetarian eats vegetables
What the heck does a humanitarian eat!?
Why do people recite at a play
Yet play at a recital?
Park on driveways and
Drive on parkways

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy
Of a language where a house can burn up as
It burns down
And in which you fill in a form
By filling it out
And a bell is only heard once it goes!

English was invented by people, not computers
And it reflects the creativity of the human race
(Which of course isn't a race at all)

That is why
When the stars are out they are visible
But when the lights are out they are invisible
And why it is that when I wind up my watch
It starts
But when I wind up this observation,
It ends. 

(found on Aha! Jokes. Click HERE for original site) 

Hurry and Enter

Only four more days to enter the contest!! If we can get to 50 followers on the Papers, Prose and Poetry blog, I'll toss in a prize for a second winner! :D

No Tears, No Dice

 

I may have posted this quote before, but I think it is awesome enough for a second run.

What lasts in the reader's mine is not the phrase but the effect the 

phrase created: laughter, tears, pain, joy. 

If the phrase is not affecting the reader, what's it doing there? 

Make it do its job or cut it without mercy or remorse.

~ Isaac Asimov

I love, LOVE, this quote. Cutting material is one of the hardest parts of writing. Especially when the stuff you are cutting isn't bad. Sometimes it's really good stuff! But it may not be doing its job for one reason or another and so....it has to go.

When I started out writing (for the purpose of publication, in any case), I had pages - a LOT of pages -  that I needed to cut in order to get the pace of my story moving. It wasn't bad stuff. Most of it was description. Really beautiful description (if I do say so myself *ahem*). But it didn't do anything for the story. It wasn't needed to help the plot along. In fact, I was describing rooms of a house that the character would never go in. It certainly didn't evoke any kind of response in my readers, except perhaps boredom, which I REALLY wasn't going for.

So, it got cut.

Now, that was a more clear cut case - but I've had instances that weren't as easy to spot. I had a conversation in my last book that I really loved. I thought it was funny and showed a playful moment between two of my characters. It didn't move the plot along - meaning, it wasn't introducing any new information about the stsoryline. But I ended up leaving it in the book, with a few tweaks. I did change it up a bit so that there were some plot-moving elements. The main reason I left it in the story was because, after taking a poll of all my readers, I found it was evoking the response I was going for. The parts of the conversation that weren't helping to evoke that response got cut. The stuff that worked, stayed.

Have you had material that you've really loved that you had to cut because it wasn't producing the desired response?  Were you able to save it or did it end up in the great red-marked chop pile in the sky?

Ten Word Tuesday

News comes in good or bad; today, praying for good!

Celebration Contest!

 

Well, my fabulous readers, I believe I promised you a contest :)

How about a super easy contest with lots of opportunities for extra entries?

How To Enter:

To enter the contest, simply leave me a comment on this post. You can say anything you want, just a quick "hi!" (try and keep it nice though ;-D ) and that's it! You are entered!

Extra Entry Opportunities:

1. Be or become a follower of this blog = 1 extra entry

2. Blog it, tweet it, Facebook it, or MySpace it = 1 extra entry per announcement = 4 possible extra entries

3. Put it on your blog's sidebar = 2 extra entries

4. Be or become a follower of my other blog, Papers, Prose, and Poetry (click HERE or on the link in the sidebar) = 5 extra entries

That is a grand total of 12 possible extra entries  :D

Leave me your tally with links to your posts in your comment. Everyone will go on to a spread sheet and a handy random number generator will choose the winner.

And now for the prizes (drum roll please......)

One lucky winner will win:

A query critique from my ever awesome agent, Krista Goering

A copy of the incredible Query Queen Elana Johnson's e-book - From the Query to the Call

and

A $20 dollar gift card to Barnes and Noble.

Depending on the response, I may just have to throw something else fabulous into the prize pot :)


So hurry and enter!!!! I will be accepting entries for one week, from today, Monday Feb 22nd, until midnight on Monday March 1st.

The winner will be announced on Tuesday, March 2nd.

Happy Entering Everyone!!

Stayed Tuned.....

Working on a couple contest details - I will get everything up in just a bit! :)