“I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows, or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.”
–Ray Bradbury
“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”
–also Ray Bradbury
“You only fail if you stop writing.”
–need you ask?
I’ve been writing since I was about six years old (and, mercifully, most of the work from the first ten years of my career has been lost or destroyed). My first publication was a short story called “Waiting for Unicorns”, which appeared in the November 1977 issue of Phantasm. Since then, along with all of the magnificent quotes from my beloved mentor, Ray Bradbury, I’ve discovered that I am also like George Carlin, who said, “Words are my work, they’re my play; they’re my passion.” My comments about writing and word usage are my way of sharing my wordsmything with you. Like all my commentary, the blogs and essays are presented on the main page as I post them; here, I group them a bit for you, expand a bit to let you know what each post is about. Enjoy the power of words, and remember: Say what you mean… and mean what you say.
General Commentary
- Welcome to Wordsmything (just my hello)
About Words and Usage
- Oh, It’s SO On…! (throwing down the gauntlet against fake words)
- We Are Not Bemused (the misuse of “bemused”)
- Flame Wars (“flammable” is not a word, dammit)
- Stupidity in Wiki Form (why Urban Dictionary is worse than terrible)
- “Quid Pro Quo, Clarice…” (a smattering of Latin; put on your smartie specs!)
- Crucifying Cruciverbalists (the evil wrought by crossword-puzzle creators)
- Raising a Ruckus Over Resumes (why potential employers make you lie)
- Something About Nothing (Seinfeld‘s got nothing on me)
- Words Require Labels (or, how we need to save the F-bomb)
- Oh Boy, New “Words” (Merriam-Webster continues to poison the language)
- The Parade of Grotesques (the word grotesque explained more clearly, in light of the events on July 4, 2019)
About Writing In General
- The Ten-Minute Warm-Up (a writing exercise)
- A Writer’s Book of Days (a helpful writer’s companion)
- Flexing Your Writing Muscles (some help against writer’s block)
About Furry Writing In Particular
- Why Write Furry? (about anthropomorphic fiction)