He'd buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line

[rolanni]

So, the day thus far has included the annual mammogram (have you had yours?  Have you scheduled it?), a trip to the post office, Which. Was. A. Zoo, because -- Tax Day, right?  Maine residents have traditionally caught a break, and got one more day to mail their taxes, because (in Maine and Massachusetts only) April 15  is also -- anyone?

You in the red sweater. . .I'm sorry?  Yes!  Patriot's Day*!  A splendid New England holiday on which banks and schools close, but not the Post Office.

Someone this year decided to take advantage of the Post Office being open for business on New England's Own Holiday and decreed that taxes have to mailed on the fifteenth in Maine and Massachusetts.  Thus the Pandemonium at the Post Office.

Where was I?

Oh -- the errands upon the morning.

Mammogram, Post Office, bank (but it was closed! caught me.), grocery store and so to home.

I'm now thinking I need to do something supperish and get with Carousel Seas.  Regular readers here will recall that I was going to try to beat the plot out of Character C persuade Character C to tell me what they have in their mind.  They naturally -- and, yanno, predictably -- refused.

It is, of course, possible that I'm over-thinking the whole thing, that I already have the information I need, and that all will become Obvious in the Fullness of Time.

It's equally possible that the backbrain hasn't finished noodling that bit out yet.

Having no other choice, I recruit myself to patience, and recall that Character C is a competent sneak who's been doing This Kind of Thing for far longer than I have.  Therefore, I shall continue on with writing the bits I do know.

I used to think that I'd be a Real Writer once I learned how a book went together.

*cue laugh track*

______________

*In Maryland, where I grew up, Patriot's Day is September 11, so when I worked for the State, which I did for many years, I got my birthday off.  Everybody should have their birthday off!  I So Decree.

* * *

Progress on Carousel Seas

32,638/100,000 OR 32.64% complete

Note: There had been a snippet here, but it was, I am told, grammatically incorrect.  I have, therefore, removed the snippet before it offended someone else.

Comments

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

April 15 is also -- anyone?

another Ides of course. Since there are 4 of them in a year..

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Writers are artists. We don't need no steenkin' grammar.

grammar

[doccolt.livejournal.com]

What jhetley said!!!!

Re: grammar

[charlie russel (from livejournal.com)]

Nope. Writers need grammar. Otherwise their editors tend to get a bit crook. But readers need Snippets, so a compromise is in order. The snippet should stay, but the grammar get fixed for the final.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Some grammar stuff is arbitrary and gets in the way of good prose. If I split an infinitive, I damn well mean to split that infinitive. Boldly.

If "bad" grammar gets in the way of communication, then it has to go.

Re: grammar

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

No, Jim's right.

Writers need to communicate cleanly and clearly.

If a sentence creates confusion, then it needs to be revised into clarity.

If a sentence perfectly conveys a thought or an action, but ends in a preposition (say) -- the preposition will just have sit there.

Dialogue is no place for proper grammar, IMHO, and! the narrative voice of a first-person novel creates the conceit that every single word in the novel is dialogue.

That said, you are also correct: Snippets are very often, if not always, first-draft, and errors are (usually) cleaned up in subsequent passes.

None of which means I'm going to expose myself to unmannerly scolds. I post snippets to share the fun. If it's not fun for me, then there's no reason for me to continue.

[drammar.livejournal.com]

I do hope that someone's ill-timed and unnecessary offense at the "whatever it was" in the snippet does not dissuade you from continuing to post them.

I find them endearing, enlightening, and very much fun.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

Ditto!!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Sigh. It seems incredible to me that someone would jape at the grammar in a well-respected writer's work, although I certainly have seen such instances before. Naetheless, it seems that one person having been provoked into such ill-conceived braying by the author's well-intentioned attempt to share the joy of creation, to let the rest of us see some of the twinkling and shimmering of the waves as the Carousel Seas gently rock the words into shape -- such a solitary squeaking might well be counter-balanced by the large number of people who enjoy the glimmers and glints. In other words, as drammar and others have commented, I hope that the apparent scold doesn't mean that we shall never see another snippet slipped across the transom -- I enjoy them!

Please, could we have another chance?

snippets

[nocal-kathyf.livejournal.com]

I am happy to add my plea to continue the snippets, in whatever form. They have been known to make my day - truly! I also really enjoy coming across the snippets in their finished form in the books as they arrive, and find that adds to my enjoyment. Glad you were able to get out and about today. Wish we had a Patriot's Day in CA. Enjoy!

Patriots Day in New England

[catherine ives (from livejournal.com)]

Condolences for a very bad Patriot's Day indeed in New England and especially in Boston. I'm hoping they find whoever it is or whoever they are soon who carried out the bombing.

[elbales]

Note: There had been a snippet here, but it was, I am told, grammatically incorrect. I have, therefore, removed the snippet before it offended someone else.

What (she said flatly). Seriously? This is a thing now? Scolding writers on their first-draft snippets, shared in the spirit of generosity and fun? That pains me, and I'm sorry to hear that someone subjected you to it.

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

Snippets from Steve are rare these days, ain't they? Why? Because over the years I've pretty much given up on regular snippets.

I've been "yelled at" in commenter for not providing enough, for providing the wrong one, for having the math wrong, for bad grammar (yeah, some folks don't get that characters speaking Liaden, Yxtrang and Trade might not have a teacher's college view of word use and structure), for spelling, for nomenclature.

Not to put too harsh a face on it, but complaining about snippets is petty interference in a delicate process. The proper response to a snippet is something like "Thanks," or "Cool," or "Uh oh!" or "This bears watching..." Using a snippet as a way to show off the infinite superiority of your upbringing? That's rude.

Snippets from Steve are rare these days, ain't they?

[elbales]

Petty is a good word.