Middle Passages

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to the co-hosts for September: Beth Camp, Jean Davis, Yvonne Ventresca, and PJ Colando. To read posts from other contributors, click here.

This month’s optional question: Since it's back to school time, let's talk English class. What's a writing rule you learned in school that messed you up as a writer?

English. Oy. So many rules and I’m supposed to choose only one? 

This question brought me back to seventh grade. Our English teacher Miss Newman was lovely, but I had a lot going on that year and spent a good deal of class distracted, which is to say I failed to learn how to diagram a sentence. Enough rubbed off that I know my parts of speech, but how to punctuate them is a definite weakness. 

In a display of I’m never too old to learn-itis, before receiving this month’s optional question, it happens I did a little research on the Oxford comma. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I knew the definition of an OC but I’ve encountered enough controversy about it online that I decided it was time to educate myself. Back in the day, I was taught that a comma before the conjunction preceding the last item in a list was optional, depending on what it did for clarity. My research revealed my “optional” comma is the Oxford comma, also known as the serial comma. Much ado about not very much I suppose (except for a 2014 lawsuit in Maine you can read about here), but the general idea is to be consistent with usage and always make sure you are being clear.

Oxford comma: I live with my brothers, monkey, and snake.

No Oxford comma: I live with my brothers, monkey and snake.

Without the OC, it reads that the brothers are the monkey and snake. With it, you can tell the brothers, monkey, and snake are separate parts of the list.

But when all is said and done, perhaps the best idea is to re-write the sentence.

I live with my brothers. I also have a monkey and a snake.

Anyway, there is more debate than I even knew with regard to my “optional comma,” because my research revealed that the AP Stylebook (Hello journalists!) does not use the OC, but the Chicago Manual of Style, used by book publishers, does.

Aha. This explains a lot. I started my secondary education as a journalism major before morphing to English Literature. Go figure. I guess it’s easier to blame my OC lack of clarity on competing writing styles rather than a failure to pay attention during ancient history.

Oops, sorry. I mean seventh grade English.

Where do you land on the Oxford Comma issue? What other writing rules confound you?

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh.  Thank you to August co-hosts Feather Stone, Kim Lajevardi, Diedre Knight, C. Lee  McKenzie, and Sarah - The Faux Fountain Pen! To read posts from other contributors,  click here.

August optional question: Do you use AI in your writing and if so how? Do you use it for your posts? Incorporate it into your stories? Use it for research? Audio?

Typically when I write an IWSG post, I start it a week ahead, pretty much as soon as we get the email reminder with the month’s optional topic. But last week I received the email in the middle of my second week of a “staycation,” and could think of nothing relevant to the topic to write. In fact, I couldn't think of anything to write at all. So I tabled it. When Sunday arrived, my last day before going back to work, I spent it grocery shopping, reading at the beach, and then getting myself organized to get back into the work routine. I woke after midnight feeling normal work anxiety along with a sudden shock that I'd forgotten to get back to my IWSG post. Even then, I had no idea what I would write. I’m woefully undereducated as it pertains to AI and had no other topic. I tossed and turned, wondering if I could bail out with pictures of my hydrangeas, but oops, I did that last month.

As a result, here I sit, 6:37 am on Monday in front of the computer and this is what you get. A brain dump. Not an artificially crafted piece, but one generated as a result of my conviction that even when I have no idea for a post, if I sit down to write, something will come. So, back to the topic at hand. Writing using AI? Nope. While I suppose there are places where it can be utilized effectively (Legal briefs? Insurance documentation? Real estate closings?) my guess is, I won’t be using it for my creative writing anytime soon.

Like everyone else, of course I USE AI. How can we not? Search engines, navigation systems, online credit cards and banking, Venmo, the computer in my car, even my new oven is Wi-Fi enabled. It sends a message to my phone when it has preheated and another when the timer goes off. I could go on and on--to the point I worry about the world of hurt we’ll all be in when the internet crashes sometime. Hints of that are already happening (Hello, last week's airline outage). What's our back up plan? I know I’m an antique when I pull out my paper checks, and the yellowing Rand McNally road atlas in my car may be severely outdated, but in a pinch it could still get me from point A to point B (although the odds of getting stuck in traffic will be greater). I hang on to these vintage tools because I’m pretty sure we're so reliant on technology that we've lost ability to function without it. They're MY back up plan. And then there’s this. I picture the old Terminator movies and wonder if that’s our future? Will artificial intelligence turn on us?

And that sums up the difference between AI and me. I have the capacity for worry.

But—I also have the ability to think positively. So, as I “create” this post, I remind myself that artificial intelligence wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for human intelligence in the first place. This essay is my little demonstration of the real deal. Using my own brain, in less than twenty minutes, I created the barebones of this post that I’ll tweak to turn into my August IWSG obligation.

There you have it. It’s now 6:56 am.

Full disclosure: I’ll use the AI from Microsoft Word’s “Read Aloud” function as I revise this piece, before scheduling it to publish on Wednesday.  

6:58 am.

First draft done.

What's your writing world experience with AI?

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our fearless ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Co-hosts for the June posting of the IWSG are  Shannon Lawrence, Melissa Maygrove, Olga Godim and ME! To read other contributors, click here.

This month’s optional question: In this constantly evolving industry, what kind of offering/service do you think the IWSG should consider offering to members?

I’m being a smart-aleck here, but personally, I’d go for a rejection therapy group! While I’m pretty good at taking no for an answer, it’s ugly when you finally talk yourself into querying again, send out four queries, get one immediate "no," wait for a while, and then receive two rejections on the same day. Yes, I can do the math. When I sent the fourth one, the instructions said there would be an automatic confirmation receipt, but one never appeared in my inbox (or my "trash," and yes I looked), so who knows if it ever made it? How about a power of positive thinking group, too, in which we repeat  mantra’s like, at least three out of four responded, and aren’t I glad those queries were for an older project (as I gear up to start querying my newest one)?

I know the drill. Two rejections means it’s time to send out two more. Ugh.

All kidding aside, I peruse the IWSG site to find information on agents, publishing, and querying. I’ve taken part in IWSG Twitter pitches, and weekly posts by various members often provide helpful tidbits.

I do wonder if IWSG might offer a means through which like-writers can identify each other in order to develop small, interactive groups for reading and critiquing ongoing work. Back in the dark ages, I became a member of an online writing group that I think was formed through IWSG, but it faded into oblivion. Of course, anyone seeking to create or join a group could always shout out in a monthly post “Hey, I’m looking for X number of writers for regular reading and critiquing of XYZ genre,” but perhaps there’s a way to come up with something more curated?

In a similar vein, writers are often looking for beta readers. I’ve found some of mine through IWSG in the past, but they've been people with whom I’ve already developed “blogging” relationships. Again, individual posts by IWSG members expressing the need for beta readers would probably work, but perhaps a list of members willing to read, their qualifications and genre would be helpful?

Regardless, I want to call out Alex and all the administrators to express my thanks for continuing to pursue ways through which IWSG may help writers grow.

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our fearless ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh.  Thank you to co-hosts for May:  Victoria Marie Lees, Kim Lajevardi, Nancy Gideon, and Cathrina Constantine.

This month’s optional question: How do you deal with distractions when you are writing? Do they derail you?

I started writing a response to this month’s question last week, but then, well, I got derailed.

I am not an effective multi-tasker. When I'm writing, I’m all in, to the detriment of anything else on my to-do list. Currently though, there’s a construction project going on at my house which has provided enormous distraction. No matter what I think I’ll be doing after work each afternoon, very little of it has been getting done.

The early mornings are quiet, so I can still write then, and during the first two weeks of demolition, I wrote after work, sitting down at the computer wearing headphones. Now though, it’s the decision-making stage and every answer requires research. Rather than doing the late afternoon writing that has been powering me along, I’m Googling. The building inspector has required me to replace a door to the garage. Research doors. Do I want overhead pendant lights? Research, research, research and…no. The bricks I chose to match existing brick for a part of the project are unavailable, which meant visiting brickyards. During one such adventure, Google Maps played games, sending my daughter and me onto the highway then off and over it, only to put us back on the highway where we started. Ultimately, it directed us to a subway parking garage and announced we were at our destination. When we finally found the brickyard, half a mile from that garage, it was in the process of being demolished. Thanks AI. I swear I heard the phone chuckle.

So, back to this month’s question. How do I deal with distractions? With headphones until that doesn’t work anymore. Then I hop off the tracks. It’s all good. I still have my morning writing time. Eventually the project will get done and besides, the trip to the brick yard provided fodder for future writing.

In the meantime, they're about to start hanging cabinets. There are drawer pulls to choose. Who knew you could have handles or knobs, or handles and knobs? (Insert eye roll here.) Time for more research.

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of our fearless ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to the April co-hosts:  Janet Alcorn, T. Powell Coltrin, Natalie Aguirre, and Pat Garcia! To read other contributors, click here.

April question - How long have you been blogging? (Or on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram?) What do you like about it and how has it changed?

Fifteen years ago, the day after a surprise layoff, I sat at the computer fashioning an essay about how it felt to be suddenly unemployed. I had no plan to create Middle Passages but on a whim, I looked up how to start a blog. Google made it so easy, before the day was over that essay became my first live post. Publishing it was life-changing because in it I revealed my closeted writing passion and announced my intention to make sure no matter what I did next, writing would be a part of it. Talk about making myself accountable.

For the first several months I published in a vacuum, unaware I needed to follow and earn followers, otherwise my words disappeared into a vast black hole. My first (non-family) comment appeared the same day I joined a LinkedIn writing group. After that we were off to the races. I joined a world in which bloggers hosted writing contests and blog hops and bestowed blog awards. I wrote five days a week and the whole process was so encouraging that quite frankly, I loved it. This blog eased me through much soul searching and self-discovery. It gave me purpose. It made me dare to try new things.

That said, even early in my blogging “career,” writers I admired stopped posting and/or moved on to other communication vehicles. Many had blogged to enhance their author brands and found quicker/different ways to market themselves. My life morphed too. I worked part-time and freelanced for a period before accepting full-time employment again, and yes, I write as a part of my job. I also write my own fiction and with less time to myself, eventually something had to give. I’m still here, but now I blog once a month for IWSG. 

So many bloggers from those beginning days have moved on. There are many I still miss. Sadly, a few  have passed away. Some have stopped writing. Others write but don’t blog. Who's to say how life will morph for any of us? But for me, regardless of all that has changed, there's one thing that never will. I'll remain ever grateful that on my first unexpected, unemployed day, I wrote a heartfelt essay and dared myself to press "publish."

What do you like best about blogging?

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of  our fearless ninja leader Alex Cavanaugh. The Cohost for the March posting of IWSG are: Kristina Kelly, Miffie Seideman, Jean Davis, and ME! To read other contributors, click here.

This month’s question: Have you "played" with AI to write those nasty synopses, or do you refuse to go that route? How do you feel about AI's impact on creative writing?

Since I wrote recently about AI in October and things haven’t changed much (though I did write a synopsis without AI), I’m going to pass on this month’s question. Instead I’d like to talk about something else. Perhaps because I'm co-hosting this month's IWSG for the first time...ever, but this week, I read an old Middle Passages IWSG post from so long ago I didn’t remember writing it. I was testing out my fiction writing chops and had used a scene storming technique to create a piece of flash fiction. Many years later, my take is while the story was good, the writing was not. There were so many things I hadn’t learned yet, I winced a fair bit while reading. Even so, every person who commented on the piece offered positive feedback or a constructive suggestion designed to teach. I guess that's a no brainer considering we're all members of the same “support group," but it bears noting that this type of regular encouragement spurred me to grow as a writer. Here at IWSG, no one bashed my inexperience. Dare I say everyone was nice?

Having grown up in the dark ages of print media, I’m still flabbergasted when I’m on a site where I encounter negative online comments. Back in the day, you couldn’t post a letter to the editor without leaving a name and address, which as a general rule, promoted self-editing. Nowadays, it feels to me as if anonymity breeds negativity. That’s why I am so impressed with IWSG. Over the many years I’ve posted here, I’ve only encountered reassurance and support.

In my early writing days, I followed a [now dark] blog called The Kindness Project. While the name may be different, IWSG is a kindness project of sorts. I suppose blogging is pretty passe now. The bulk of the universe has moved on to newer, faster, quicker things. But I'm so proud of this core of us who remain, encouraging, caring, and supporting. I’m pleased and grateful to find myself in such good company when I show up here every month.

 

Welcome to IWSG Day. The goal of this blog hop is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a haven for insecure writers of all kinds. IWSG is the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh. Thank you to this month’s co-hosts  Janet Alcorn, SE White, Victoria Marie Lees, and Cathrina Constantine.

Since I can’t say I’ve ever felt critical about an author’s webpage, I’m passing on this month’s question in favor of an update.

I wrote last month about the “Read Aloud” feature in word, and how it's helping me. It’s been such a success that after two passes through my most current project, I dared to ask a friend to beta read it. Before she left for a week sailing the Caribbean (insert envious sigh here), she’d plowed through most of it, calling me frequently to offer feedback. Other than multiple examples of missing end quotes and a couple of typos I didn't catch, her feedback has been positive and encouraging. Upon her return I’ll get her final analysis on the story.

As I suggested I would in last month's post, I’m now using “read aloud” to take a hard look at one of my earlier non-published books, which I haven’t edited with any seriousness since 2018. I love the story. Love it. But I crashed and burned querying and came to believe the book wasn’t ready, yet.

Conventional wisdom says leaving a project to rest for a while is a good thing. Perhaps leaving it to rest for a LONG while is better. I’m on my second “read aloud” edit and still believe in the novel. By listening to Word read to me, I’ve found places where I can tweak things to make them clearer, and where I've needed to cut to make the writing more concise. I always thought I was a better reader than listener. “Read aloud” has proved me wrong. But, the good news is that while I've found plenty that can use fixing, I’ve had more times in which I’ve found myself tickled, in a Holy Moly, I wrote this? kind of way. 

An author I love once said she didn't give up with her book because she refused to let something on which she worked so hard disappear into a drawer. I’ve got four somethings like that, two of which have yet to go through “read aloud” rigor.

Here’s hoping I’m not setting myself up for more crash and burn, but January was an optimistic month for me.

What has been your experience with the "read aloud" feature in word? What other editing tricks do you use?