At work for the USAO here in PR. I do go to the range with my friends who are federal officers. I was in the military before, though, so it's not a new thing for me. I can understand if you would prefer not to. My hubby still looks at my weapon as though it were going to leap up and bite him. You can see him side-eyeballing it as though it's going to move on its own.
To celebrate the spirit of Halloween, I've altered my avatar for a more Majora's Mask feel and will be typing in this font and color until Sunday. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
Hey, just an FYI: If I come here and start typing posts that look weird and a little off, that will be because I had just come home from the eye doctor where they dilated my eyes (for new prescription, etc.) I'll basically be blind, is what I'm saying. So if I come, steer clear and give me Braille books to read for most of the day. It's funny, isn't it? The eye doctors want to ensure you get the best vision you can possibly get, yet to do that, they have to screw up your vision so you bang off the walls and stumble about like a blind person.
Out of curiosity: is it possible to contact the producers of Sesame Street with an idea of a new character they could use? Just asking. >_>
I'm pretty sure you have to sleep with someone to get any of your ideas for a character to even be considered
No amount of alcohol and brain bleach will ever eradicate this from my memory. Indeed, decades from now, with this day a forgotten memory to all, that picture shall haunt my dreams.
Learned today that John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novel, The Green Ripper, won a National Book Award in 1980. Almost makes up for the unfortunate political correctness turn the award has taken in recent years.
Is this a good line?: "I could not help but look at her and fall in love. Even though she did not smile, I smiled as if she had." Cheesy or ostentatious?
One too many smiles for my taste. "Even though she did not smile, I felt as though she had." Cheesy or ostentatious would depend on context.
Ooh! I much prefer the original with the repeated smile. In this case, I think the second smile gains strength from the repetition. I think "I felt..." doesn't indicate how he responds physically, and is therefore weaker. For me, the repeated smile makes the line sound like a song lyric, and by that, I mean a good song lyric. Oh well. People have different tastes.
I actually thought about this after @Bookster's reponse. And I realized I was not interested in telling, but showing that something as superficial as looks, could provoke a physical response. So, you think it would fit better for a song? Eh, someone once said that what they look for in prose is poetry, and I am much the same way. Since lyrics are just poetry used in music, I suppose it's quite the compliment!
I don't mean it would be better in a song; I just meant it had the power of a good song lyric. I think it works very well in prose. Of course, the context matters. If you're writing a very plain journalistic style, a line like this would stand out too much. But if the whole story has a semi-poetic style, then this would work very well, I think.
I'm in love with Steinbeck's prose, and I think it has influenced my writing style quite a lot. All my writing has attained a certain flow.
Steinbeck is one of my favorites, too. He has a beautiful warmth in his prose. If you posted his work in our Workshop anonymously, I bet a lot of members would tear it apart for being too wordy, too full of digressions, too descriptive. There is, however, a reason millions of readers love him and have gone back to his books over and over again. Next to Mark Twain, he's probably the best-loved writer in American literature, and yet he violates just about all of the so-called "rules."
