Crabapples

Red!

Sunday

dried flowers from the farmers' market
and a sunny window

 

The arrangement is reflected in the window.

Japanese lanterns

I think this is a kind of thistle.

Overheard #266

"Genius hasn't been overdone."

Last Roses on a Rainy Day

and a foxglove

Local Talent

I learned this morning that a country western group, Restless Road, advanced to the final four in the Groups division on X-Factor. Zach Beeken, the bass voice in Restless Road, went to high school with Jeremy. They sang together in Chorale and Men's Chorale. Jeremy used to take voice lessons from Zach Beeken's dad.

Basses rule!

Useful Links

Here are two links to valuable blog posts on writing. Both were suggested by the amazing Shutta Crum on the SCBWI-MI listserv. 

The Writer Unboxed post by Lisa Cron explains how to trace your protagonist’s inner journey. The first time I read it, I stopped in despair at the words, “What they end up with is a narrative that’s basically just a bunch of things that happen.” I went back, read the article again and mapped my protagonist’s inner journey. Yes, she does change. As I revise, I can strengthen that.  

LaurieHalse Anderson’s post called Revision Roadmap is my next project. Anderson describes how to make a scene-by-scene roadmap of a novel, and ways to detect problems like unnecessary scenes, excessive dialog, misplaced subplots and pacing problems. My novel has already experienced a lot of cutting and significant expansion. Perhaps it’s time to see if it works.

Overheard #265

"It's hard to learn anything by doing the right thing."

Asymptote Anecdote

During a discussion of science jokes with a group of friends, I mentioned that the asymptote is the mathematical model for my writing career. It’s a joke many people don’t get. 

Merriam Webster’s definition of asymptote is "a straight line associated with a curve such that as a point moves along an infinite branch of the curve the distance from the point to the line approaches zero and the slope of the curve at the point approaches the slope of the line," 

In other words, the curve approaches the line, gets infinitely close to it, yet never crosses it.  

One person asked about the origin of the word. Asymptote likely comes from Greek asymptōtos not meeting, from a- + sympiptein to meet.” (also Merriam Webster) 

To my surprise, I discovered Merriam Webster lists rhyming words. I don’t write in rhyme, but consider the possibilities of billy goat, sticky note, or even quarter note. Here’s Merriam Webster’s list: 

anecdote, antidote, assault boat, billy goat, Capriote, cashmere goat, casting vote, Corfiote, creosote, dead man's float, entrecôte, ferryboat, flying boat, get one's goat, Huhehot, locomote, matelote, miss the boat, morning coat, motorboat, mountain goat, nanny goat, overcoat, paddleboat, papillote, passing note, pedal-note, petticoat, picketboat, polo coat, powerboat, quarter note, redingote, riverboat, rock the boat, rubythroat, Shabuoth, Sialkot, sixteenth note, sticky note, sugarcoat, symbiote, table d'hôte, undercoat, yellowthroat