Friday, January 2, 2004

Ugh. I simply cannot wake up at a decent hour anymore. It started on Monday; I slept through my alarm and awoke at noon. Of course, my body wouldn’t go to sleep at the regular time, so I ended up tossing and turning until 2 a.m. Lather, rinse, repeat. This morning, I slept through two alarms, despite going to bed at a reasonable hour the night before. I’m hoping that this is the end of it.

stayed home on New Year’s Eve. This usually elicits an “Awww” from those to whom I tell it, but I frankly don’t care about New Year’s. It seems like an empty reason to celebrate. “Yay, the world hasn’t ended!”

This week’s writing challenge: Choose an occupation of any kind (programmer, mother, hobo, etc.). Integrate five stereotypical elements of that occupation into a character description. Then integrate five highly non-stereotypical elements of that occupation into the same character description. Purpose: Improve your ability to create a non-stereotypical character. Discover ways to “de-stereotype” a character.

And I’ll leave you with a writerly quote:

“Those who scorn the “publish or perish” principle are the most eager to see their own manuscripts published quickly and given wide publicity — and the least willing to see their length reduced. Reviewers who are best placed to understand an author’s work are the least likely to draw attention to its achievements, but are prolific sources of minor criticism, especially the identification of typos.”

— John Maddox, editor of the journal Nature

Leave a Reply

I work for Amazon. The content on this site is my own and doesn’t necessarily represent Amazon’s position.