Tag Archives: optimism

Writers Horoscope August 18: Your standards will be tested today.

Newspaper’s…store sign’s…blog post’s…everywere you look, you see typographical error’s, subject-verb disagreement’s, and multiple misuse’s of the apostrophe.

Your wundering if its a plot to drive you nut’s. **

What to do? Cease and desist reading hard or Web copy?

Or, for a measure of writerly catharsis, whip out a red pen at the coffee shop and have at the local rag. [Do resist intrusive rants and violent shredding, and you might consider an iced frappa-soya-chino instead of the lawsuit-inducing 16 oz. dark roast .]

Or just shrug and forge ahead, secure with the guiding light of Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition rules.

**Count the number of errors in the bold text and let me know in the comments how many you’ve detected. If you’re really intense, copy/paste the text in the comment box and paste in little dagger emojis next to the errors.

This might also help   >>>>>>    😡

 

Writers Horoscope August 16: Expect to encounter frustration. It’s how you deal with it that counts.

In other words, don’t blame the tools.

laptop in door

Writers Horoscope August 15: Don’t take your challenges lying down.

Boo on his back writing ergonomics

Though there is something to be said for an occasional mindfulness minute or stretch break. [Not a bad idea, however, to warn others of your upcoming ‘private time’. They’ll thank you for that.]

Writers Horoscope August 14: You overestimate your mental capabilities.

Enough with the multitasking already! It doesn’t even exist. And what you are doing (current terminology: context switching) is stealing brainpower.

Consider these drawbacks:

  • You have a lower IQ. [This would explain your predilection for Dora the Explorer reruns to finishing that chapter from John Gardner’s The Art of Fiction.]
  • You reduce your memory. [Uhhhh…you’re on this page because you clicked a web link to get here. ;->]
  • You damage your brain. [Listen, your teens and 20’s are ruthless enough. No sense piling on.]

woman-multitasking-covering face

Photo courtesy of Pixabay.

Writers Horoscope August 13: Sharing your work has its limits.

 

There’s a not-so-fine line between publishing and defacing.

Besides, ink-on-wall is so limiting…so 20th century. Today, join the digital age.

writing-wall-cropped

 

Writers Horoscope August 12: Today, take a second look at your [w]rituals.

It’s possible you’re losing sight of your writing goals.

Take a deep breath…that’s it…now put down the compass. The only sharp object you should be working with is a medium point Bic.

writing rituals overdoing it compass scientific

Writers Horoscope August 10: A change of scenery is in order.

Face it–waking up to a sea of pixels and liquid crystals is hardly a warm, embracing welcome to your creative urges**.
So, mix it up.
Get out of the house.
Breathe real air.
Pave a new neural pathway. [Not even sure that’s a thing. It just sounds right.]
Turn off YouTube, fergawdsakes.
Happy writing.

Bench with comments 2

 

**Ever notice that ‘urges’ is easily rearranged to spell ‘surge’? I mean, really, isn’t that cosmic? A surge of urges………eeew-ick, an innocent four-word phrase and we’re thrust into 50 Shades territory…thrust……okay, we’re done here.

Writers Horoscope August 9: Choose optimism today.

  • Rejection slips? Hey, someone [or at least someTHING] considers you among the living.
  • Put on hold when you request payment for your work? See #1. [You at least rate the push of a button.]
  • Your characters running amok? They might have a firmer grasp of the real story than you do.
  • The critique group finding hidden meaning in your work where none was intended? At least they’re reading it. And at least your words have meaning.