Want to Write Humor? Check Out This Interview

Want to read a great article about writing humor? Check out WomenonWriting.com and enjoy “Humor in the 10 Items or Less Lane,” an interview with writer Hillary Carlip.

Hillary talks about her book, A la Cart: The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers, that is enjoying much success. The book, her fourth, was based on her view of discarded grocery lists. How’s that for a creative concept? Her first book, Girl Power: Young Women Speak Out earned the author a spot on Oprah, and her memoir, Queen of the Oddballs: And Other True Stories from a Life Unaccording to Plan was named one of the Top Literary Memoirs of 2006.

I haven’t read A la Cart yet but I plan to do that as soon as I can get to Barnes & Noble to buy a copy — a decision based almost entirely on this interview. Hillary’s book is filled with humorous character sketches featuring photos of the author as each of the characters. I can hardly wait to get my hands on a copy.

Writers can learn a lot about writing humor from the WOW interview, in addition to having lots of laughs. As usual, WomenonWriting has done a fine job on this piece. You can read the full interview here, but you might to want to read it on the WomenonWriting website instead so you can also read other helpful articles posted there.

© 2008 by Laverne Daley

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Five More Helpful Websites for Writers

In April, I posted “Five Helpful Websites for Freelance Writers.” As a followup, here are five more websites than can prove helpful for writers, whether you are already published or just beginning your writing career, and whether you write fiction or nonfiction. There’s something for everybody in this group:

Oncewritten.com calls itself the source for new or emerging writers and offers free “stick content” (writing prompts and writing contest information), book reviews, author interviews, book promotional tips and chances to win free books. If you subscribe to the site’s Writing Spark Newsletter ($3 per month for recurring subscriptions, $7.50 per quarter, $25 a year), you’ll be sent writing prompts 365 days of the year.

If you’ve written a book, or if you’re thinking about a writing book, you might want to check out ParaPublishing.com. Along with hundreds of pages of information and free documents, there is specific information about writing your book and all the components needed for its publication and distribution. Check out the link to Specific Category Writing for information about Fiction versus Nonfiction, Children’s Books, Cookbooks, Travel Books, Religious Books, Screenplays and Newsletters.

In the free edition of the AbsoluteWrite.com newsletter, you can get biweekly updates on international writer’s guidelines, jobs for writers, calls for submissions and writing contests. The site also offers writing software, author interviews, columns and articles on writing. There’s a Writers Wanted section where writing jobs, guidelines and freelance opportunities are posted, plus a newsletter filled with agents looking for writers. Be sure to check out the article, “Simple Ways to Re-Slant Your Article” by A. Antonow. Re-slanting is a good way to increase your writing income.

Duotrope.com is a great resource for writers with its database of more than 1,500 markets for short fiction, poetry and novels. You can search the database by genre, pay scale and submission length. The site is kept current by updates at least twice a month. There’s also a free online submission tracker for registered users.

Another helpful resource for writers, especially beginning writers, is LiteraryLawGuide.com. You’ll find articles like “What Every Writer Should Know About Copyright” and “Publishing Law 101: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You.” Also there are links to multiple other resources like SPAWN, The Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network, which offers information on writing and publishing, and links to publishers, printers, the media and other research sources. There’s also a link to WritersHelpDesk.com, which has over 500 pages of information for self-publishing and writing resources.

Use the listed information at your own risk. Words into Print gives no warranty to
completeness, accuracy, or fitness of the markets, although research is done to the best of our ability.

© 2008 by Laverne Daley

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Use the listed information at your own risk. Words into Print gives no warranty to
completeness, accuracy, or fitness of the markets, although research is done to the best of our ability.

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Writing with Precision: More Words that Trip Us Up

“A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist.” Vladimir Nabokov

Have you seen the Avis television commercials written from the point of view of a car whose owner is off to Florida, enjoying herself while driving around in a new Avis rental car? The left-behind vehicle bemoans having to sit “staring at a cement wall” until the owner returns.

There’s a problem with the commercial, precisely this: there can be no such thing as a cement wall. The vehicle is facing a concrete wall. Cement is a soft powdered substance which is mixed with water, sand and gravel to make concrete, the finished product used for walls, sidewalks and the like. Cement is much too soft to become a wall. Evidently the Avis copywriter didn’t take the time to learn the difference in the two words.

It’s easy for words like cement and concrete to trip us up. That’s why I keep a dictionary and a style book like Strunk and White’s Elements of Style close to the computer to help in choosing the exact word needed for a sentence.

Other right- and nearly-right words can also trip us up. Here are a few more that I’ve come across in recent weeks:

Disburse and Disperse

Disburse means to give out (We will disburse Christmas bonuses early this year).
Disperse means to scatter (The mob chose to disperse when the police car came into view).

Disassemble and Dissemble

To Disassemble means to take apart (The mechanic disassembled the engine to find out why it failed).
To Dissemble means to tell lies (The Senator was known to dissemble in his speeches).

Past and Passed

Past refers to events that have taken place previously (His past came back to haunt him in his new job).
Passed is the past tense of the word pass (While waiting to see the doctor, he passed the time by working sudoku puzzles).

Economic and Economical

Economic means having to do with the economy (The housing crisis is having a big impact on our economy).
Economical means being financially prudent, as being careful in spending money or time (She found it most economical to shop in grocery stores that doubled coupons).

Sunrise and Dawn

The words are not equivalent in meaning. Sunrise is the daily appearance of the sun above the eastern horizon (While we were on vacation, we watched the sunrise every morning).
Dawn is the period of daylight in the morning that happens before the sun emerges above the horizon (They waited for dawn so they could see well enough to launch the boats).

Hoard and Horde

Hoard means to store or accumulate things (During World War !!, some people tried to hoard sugar).
Horde means a large group of people (A horde of fans turned out for the concert).

I’ll finish with some words of advice, not from me but from the poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who knew the value of writing with precision:

“Put the argument into a concrete shape, into an image, some hard phrase, round and solid as a ball, which they can see and handle and carry home with them, and the cause is half won.”

© 2008 by Laverne Daley

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