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Blink, Blink!

So I’m an adult. Right age and everything. Still, I love cartoons. So much that I drag my kids to the movies under the farce that it’s really for them. 😉

One thing I wonderifically admire are the ‘blink, blink’ moments. You know, that look you’re giving me right now. When one person says something and the other person has no good response for any number of
reasons.

Take Winnie-the-Pooh and Rabbit. In one episode, Rabbit asks: “Pooh, don’t you know what a referee does?”

And Pooh stares back, and you hear “blink, blink,” as he blinks twice. Without saying a word, we KNOW. Pooh has no idea. Zero.

It’s brilliant, I tell you, brilliant!

So I’ve started doing this to my husband (and a select few others who appreciate the nuanced humor). 😉 Here’s how it works. Let’s say your best friend Eddie holds out his finger to you and says, “Wow! Look at
the size of that booger!”

What do you say? You’re kind of speechless. Right?

Just hold up both hands, open and shut your fingers, and say: “Blink. Blink.” And now, with no words, you have conveyed your disgust and/or speechlessness without ever having to say to Eddie: “What a disgusting
behavior! You don’t have the manners of a cow, and I am udderly . . . I mean utterly . . . speechless by what you’ve just done!”

So go on, go out there and spread the blinks! And in the mean time, have a blink, blink moment you care to share?

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You Guessed It

Sweet! The car is guessed.

Those of you coming in late, your job was to guess the make, model and color of the car based on the (absolutely real-life) license plate which was:

HER KIWI

Amazingly the same picture came into almost everyone’s mind. Next time will be harder. I promise. 😉

So Nicole Ducleroir got it right first: Lime Green VW Beetle. Lola, if you had said Gecko Green before Nicole, I SO would have given it to you.

I’m sure you’re all wondering what delectable treat Nicole chose . . . a plain Hershey’s Bar. Totally classic. Totally in the mail.

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Guess That Car

You know me and personalized license plates. So, . . .

License Plate Game of the Week:

Guess the make, model and color (must be the specific color, and yes, that’s a hint) of the car with the following license plate:

HER KIWI

Definitely do-able. First person to get it, I’ll mail a chocolate bar of their choice. If no one guesses by midnight EDT of Friday, June 4, we’ll try again another week. Okay, and to be fair, one guess per person. Make it a good one!

Good luck!

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Awards and a Call for Opinions

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day Weekend (or not for my non-US friends). I didn’t get to visit any gravesides (they’re on the other side of the country), but we had fun swimming and doing a barbecue with friends.

So I am honored to have received a couple of awards. I’m always tickled pink when someone thinks of me.

Laurel at Laurel’s Leaves gave me the Sweet Blogger award. If you haven’t seen her blog, I highly recommend it. I learn so much from her.

I wanted to pass it on to Bethany Elizabeth at Ink-Splattered. Her posts are always so upbeat. I always leave her blog feeling lifted.

And the other person I wanted to pass it on to is Kasie West. She shares all her useless advice. Seriously hilarious. And a lot of really good stuff like what she’s learned about agents. Go check both these blogs out!

I was also given the Sunshine Blog Award by Lynn at Place to Create. She has so much heart in her posts. You can’t help feeling like you just visited your best friend when you stop by.

I wanted to pass this on to Lola Sharp at Sharp Pen/Dull Sword. Her blog is helpful and full of uplifting thoughts like the 5 random things she loves (including cupcakes!).

Also to Sandy Shin who obviously has great taste in books since she just reviewed one of my favorites, and who is not only a talented writer, but an artist, AND in the process of working toward Med School (definitely capitalized)

And also to Reb at Reb’s Photos. Okay, okay, she’s my sister, but she has some great photos of the southern Utah area, and she is one of the sunniest people I know.

As for these awards, I’m with Laurel. These are low stress awards. Pass them on or don’t. But just wanted to share some of the sites I like to visit. And thank you again to Lynn and Laurel for thinking of me. 🙂

So, I’m slowly crawling towards the 101-follower mark (woo hoo!), and of course who needs any better excuse for a contest? I’m still in the planning stages, and I’d love to hear from all of you what you most like to win in these contests. Obviously I won’t be giving away a car, or whatever, but I’d love to hear your ideas. And do you prefer the sign-up and be done? Or do you prefer that some effort be involved . . . i.e. writing? 🙂

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Telling Actions

So I went to this concert. I won’t drop names, but here’s a picture I took. 🙂

We had fabulous seats (not to brag or anything), so we had a great view. Both my husband and I love his music. I already know he’s married with kids. Said to be a devoted husband. He’s handsome. An amazing guitar player. And a great sense of humor.

How could I possible like him more? I found out at the concert.

He singled out all the kids near the stage and made a point of getting them one of his guitar picks. How awesome is that?

So what does this have to do with writing? Everything. When we create our characters, how do we show that our MC is who we say he is?

Something as simple as giving a kid some attention can add depth to make them believable and real. What have you done in your book to show your readers who your MC is?

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Dear Grammar Nazi

Dear Grammar Nazi,

I am your biggest fan! I’m starting a fan club because you speak English so good. . . . or is it well? No wait, good, right? I think . . .

Dangit! Now I forgot my question.

You’re 4ever Fan!

Johnny B. Good

P.S. Upon reflection, I wish to modify my response. When a language is invented that is called “Good,” then you may say “you speak Good.” Until that time, please refrain.

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Mystery Driver

Okay, okay, for all my old followers (like 10 of you), you know I have this fascination with personalized license plates. I keep seeing ones I’m dying to share with ya’ll.

So I had this fabulous idea for a blog game. I will post a license plate, and we, the literary bloggers of the world, are going to solve the mystery of why they put that on their car. Build a characterization and back story. Fun, no?

The rules:

1. Only post ONE bit of information per comment (so the story can grow)
2. Try to build off previous posts where possible
3. Keep it clean (children’s lit, right?)
4. HAVE FUN!

I’ll try to pull it all together in a posting later in the week.

So here’s an example:  WYLD ELF

1st comment: This is a girl. For sure!
2nd comment: She watched Lord of the Rings and developed an unhealthy fascination with Orlando Bloom.
3rd comment: Is there such a thing as an “unhealthy” fascination with Orlando Bloom? *sigh* Okay, okay, she has pointed ears.
4th comment: Her mother read “Where the Wild Things Are” to her as a child.

Well you get the idea.

So we’ll see how it goes, and maybe this will fizzle, but all I have to say is CHINESE TAKE-OUT, baby!

(And yes, 100% authentic)

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Pay it Forward

So Friday, I got this amazing wonderful surprise. Here’s the story:

A week ago, B. Miller started this fabulous Pay It Forward Giveaway (that I so totally wish I had come up with). Go check it out if you haven’t heard about it.

ANYWAY, Courtney, the Southern Princess, as a break-off from that, honored me with a Pay It Forward post. She listed 3 bloggers she would love to hang out with in a non-virtual way, and I was one of them! For those of you who haven’t read my profile, she and I are fellow princesses after all. And royalty must stick together what with the paparazzi and everything. But what a lift in my day. So much more than honored. *insert cheesy grin.*

So I wanted to spread the love and choose three people that I would love to spend time with in a non-virtual way. Normally, I would list you all, but that would be a long post that no one would finish reading, so here we go with three:

Jenny Matlock: I have been rolling at her garage sale posts, and her big heart just shines through. Though we’ve never met, I wanted to pull up a lawn chair, pour a tall glass of lemonade with one of those little umbrellas in it, and chat about all the interesting people who stopped in. And she refers to her husband as Mr. Jenny. How can you not want to meet someone who does that?

Lydia Kang at The Word is My Oyster: When I found out she’s an Internal Medicine Doctor, I felt that instant she-knows-what-I’m-going-through connection because my husband is on his first year of his Internal Medicine Residency. She does this fabulous post called Medical Mondays, and her posts are always thought-provoking and fun. I’m never disappointed when I visit her blog. Plus, she’s working on the secret to getting 25 hours out of a day. I so intend to be around when she learns it as I’m sure she will!

Vicki Dixon at Ron Empress: Okay, maybe I’m cheating a little on this one because we have met before, but she is that wonderful. First, her writing is beautiful. Like, I’m-green-with-jealousy-because-my-writing-will-never-be-that-beautiful beautiful. Next, I always hear about the coolest contests from her. And finally, It’s from her encouragement that I started a blog at all. She has been a huge support to me in this endeavor we’re on. Go visit!

So what catches your attention on a blog and makes you want to go back? What makes you feel connected to a blogger you’ve never met?

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“Oops!” in Context

A single word can say a lot. Take the word “oops.” By itself, we know that somewhere a mistake was made. Something happened that the speaker didn’t want to have happen.

But add a little context to that single word, and OHHH the meaning that can result. For example, I was cutting my husbands hair last night. “Oops!” What do you think the word says now?

I’m handwashing my finest china. “Oops!” Have a picture in your head?

A doctor in the middle of bypass surgery. “Oops!”

A circus performer on the tightrope. “Oops!”

The possibilities are endless. The word never changes, but give a little context and you hardly need to say anything else. The reader gets it.

Go on . . . share your own “oops” context.

Note: My husband’s hair grows fast, so no worries!

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Dear Grammar Nazi

Dear [name redacted],

As far as ‘lay vs. lie’ goes, I would be lying if I said the misuse of these didn’t concern me. I have lain awake many a night worrying about it. When I received your question, I lay there for hours wondering how best to lay down the law. I laid my pen and paper next to me in case inspiration hit. It didn’t.

Lucky for me, Grammar Girl already laid out the rules. In the end, I highly recommend you purchase “Grammar for Dummies” as even Grammar Girl confesses to looking these words up every time she uses them. Tonight, I can lie down in peace, knowing there is one less person in the world misusing these words.

Sincerely,

The Grammar Nazi

P.S. Larry the Cableguy is a favorite of mine . . . an unending source of material!

Do you have a question for The Grammar Nazi? Send them to rjljohnson [dot] janet [at] gmail [dot] com.

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