Software Review and Strange Search Terms

In an interesting twist of fate, I noticed yesterday one of the search terms that brought someone to my blog also gave me opportunity to do another software review. I really like doing them, and you all seem to like them, so it was fortuitous for all concerned that a hapless individual was searching the Interweb yesterday for something that allows me to both help them, and give you a look at software you may or may not be familiar with. However, a caveat: This is not a comprehensive examination or test of the software in question. Just so you know, none of my reviews ever are. They're just things I found that I thought were cool, and that I thought you might like too. Okay, /disclaimer; onward.

The search term that brought the person to my blog:

what is riffling

First, let me help that person out. According to WordWeb:

rif·fle [ ríff'l ]

verb (past and past participle rif·fled, present participle rif·fling, 3rd person present singular rif·fles)

Definition:

1. transitive and intransitive verb flick through pages: to flick through the pages of a book, magazine, or newspaper, glancing casually at the contents

2. transitive verb shuffle cards: to shuffle playing cards by halving the deck, lifting the corners, and flicking the cards so that they overlap as they fall

3. intransitive verb become choppy: to become rough and choppy when passing over submerged rocks ( refers to water )
Water riffles over the rocks.

noun (plural rif·fles)

Definition:

1. quick look at book: a quick flick through the pages of a book, magazine, or newspaper

2. shuffling of cards: the shuffling of playing cards

3. U.S. submerged rocks or sandbar: an area of rocks or a sandbar lying just below the surface of the water

4. rough water: an area of rough water caused by submerged rocks or a sandbar

5. grooved part of sluice: the bottom part of a sluice that has grooves for collecting gold or other mineral particles

[Mid-18th century. < ?]

Okay, so that should take care of that. By the way, all you writer types: If you're not using WordWeb, you're missing out. It's a dictionary/thesaurus that has links to web definitions for words, it runs in the background of your system and can be used with almost any program, and best of all, it's free. There is a pro version, too, if you're interested. Check it out.

I like that it's typically stronger than the standard dictionary and thesaurus found in most programs. Sure, you can customize those, but you can do a lot of neat things with WordWeb too. It will automatically detect and use any additional dictionaries you have, so if you're writing a mystery romance about a French porn star who inadvertently sleeps with the Minister of Defense, you can use a French dictionary to look up the French words you want to use. You can also have it look over cross-references, select only a particular part of speech when a word can be more than one (like "riffling" above, both a noun and a verb), and it will automatically replace words you look up with the click of a button. Additionally, it links to any related Wikipedia articles on the word, can use Wiktionary, and has a direct link to the WordWeb dictionary online if you want more indepth analysis. It does stand alone, however, and runs locally on your computer. No Internet connection is required to use it, but it becomes more powerful if you have one available.

Since it's a tabbed layout, none of those things get in your way when you're using it, which is nice. You can also set up a keystroke look-up hotkey. Want to strike a single key to get your definitions? Just set the program up to respond to the key stroke or combination, and that's all there is to it. (Just make sure none of the programs where you'll use WordWeb are already using that combination natively.)

WordWeb's been a great help to me since I installed it, and I can't imagine writing without it now. I have it installed on both my local system and one of my flash drives, along with a lot of other portable applications, so when I travel or am away from my own computer, I can still use at least the local copy of WordWeb when I'm working. It's a boon, and something I think belongs in every writer's toolbox, unless you're still using a typewriter. Then you're on your own.

Check the WordWeb website for more details, and a free download. If you like it and are so inclined, you can also purchase the pro edition there. I'm sure you'll like it.

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: search terms, writers tools, random thoughts, reviews, software

Work Habits in Writing and Editing

I discovered something last night that I didn't realize before.  I don't have as much editing work to do as I thought I did on my manuscript.

The punch came while I was reviewing the book Novelists Essential Guide to Crafting Scenes by Raymond Obstfeld.  He's a prolific writer (claiming 35 novels) and a teacher at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, CA.  I read the last chapter of that book last night, and shut my eyes to give thanks.

I did all of the things that he recommends doing, saving the easiest step -- streamlining the narrative and descriptive passages for maximum effect -- for last.

Until last night, I was despairing of the amount of work left to do.  I wondered if I'd ever do it, or if I'd ever want to do it.  After reading that, I think I finally do.  I think I want to edit my manuscript, to cut it to shreds and strengthen it.  I haven't addressed any dialog; I've told all of you that, and why.  But I've edited the first six chapters.  It's 47 chapters long, and that's a bit daunting, but I think I finally have the enthusiasm for it to get as much done as I can.

There are other matters more pressing still, but when I do have free time, I think editing my manuscript is going to be something I truly enjoy.  Seeing it come to fruition is once again possible, and I don't have the vaunting tasks ahead of me I thought I did.  I have the blogosphere to thank for that, believe it or not.

Publishing the novel in blog format first forced me to write in sections, and to edit and clean-up each section, to demand of it its purpose in the whole.  I was able to have a brilliant beta reader go over it before you ever laid eyes on it.  I had the benefit of a proofreader that kept me inline.  I had someone help me make decisions on whether one version or another made the story work best.  I had a lot of help getting here, and quite accidentally, I am now doing the easiest part to finalize the document.

That's quite a relief.  It's a bit of joy, actually.  And I'm going to push forward doing it.  If I can do three or four chapters a night, it won't take all that long to finalize it.  Hopefully I can do more, but I'm not going to get too ambitious.  I will say, however, there is less work to do in the later chapters than in the first three.  The last three were far easier to do, require far less cutting and trimming, and if the subsequent chapters are like that one, it should be a piece o' cake ... mostly.

Just thought I'd share.  I hope you're all doing well.  God bless.

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: writing, blogging, random thoughts

Status Update

I'm sorry I disappeared on you, blogosphere.  I really am.

I can't promise every day updates the way I've been doing them.  I can't promise I'll get new fiction up for you anytime soon (so please enjoy the existing stuff as much as you'd like while it's here), and I don't know what fate holds for us in the near future.  We have a situation, some of you are aware of it, and there's nothing on the horizon in that regard.  Updates on that as events warrant.

But in other news, I've edited 6 chapters of Ghost Hunters.  I've posted them on my deviantART page but not here, yet.  I've gotten a positive response on them so far, but ... I'm not really able to move forward.  I feel an overwhelming sense of guilt having that be a top priority right now.  Sorry.  Maybe I'll update the first six parts with their new iterations, but I can't say when.  And, because I'm in the middle of editing THAT document, I don't really have time to write anything on the OTHER document I have going, Witch Hunt.  I need to do the plotting and planning I was talking about before, but ... it's ... well, let's just say that I can't do it alone.

Anyway, I'm still ... here.  Mostly.  Thanks for sticking around.  I don't know how much longer I'll BE here, but while I am, I appreciate your continued support.  You've all been so wonderful, and I can't thank you enough.

God bless you, gang.  We're praying for you.

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: random thoughts, writing, blogging

Okay ... This Time I MEAN It!

Really ... seriously ... I'm going to do the things I need to do to get the new, revised plot for Witch Hunt fixed and outlined, at least partially, so I can start writing.

I really mean it.  Before the end of the week, I want to have a positive update on that front for all of you that care.  I really, really will.  I promise.

My wife and I have the problems worked out -- well, we think so -- but we haven't done the outlining part and gotten it on paper (electronically anyway).  Until I do that, I'm not comfortable getting stuff written.  I just don't want to proceed haphazardly and mess up a strong beginning.  Well ... by all accounts it's a strong beginning; YMMV.

So, don't give up, don't be disappointed, and don't let me off the hook.  Okay?

Love all over y'all.

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: writing, random thoughts

The Edge

My amazing and brilliant wife and I were up all night.

That's nothing new.  We've been doing that lately; pulling all-nighters.  With the baby's wonky sleeping schedule and my love's inability to simply lay her head on the pillow and drift off, she frequently doesn't get her sleep until the gray rays of dawn penetrate the shaded windows.

We were laughing -- I was hysterically so -- about things.  Lots of things.  Things I'd written about mostly, but some of her one-liners are astounding in their impact and sophistication.  I'm sure the line "Santa with rum dribbling down his beard" doesn't make you laugh, but had you been there with us, it'd bring tears to your eyes and a stitch to your side.

While we spoke, trying to keep the laughter to a dull roar so as not to wake the children, she told me something about some of my writing.  It was stuff I did a while back.  I was experimenting with a new style, a new voice.  I wanted a particular feel, a particular sensation, to come from the stories.  To give it an air of authenticity, I chose historical fiction as my subject matter.  My own history.  I pulled stories of my childhood out of my memory and tried to spin them as I recalled them, but of course, they were only loosely based on reality.  I augmented and just plain ol' spun yarns when I couldn't remember the outcome or details.  In the end, I had a collection of stories I thought were hysterical, told part of my life that I can remember well and fondly (mostly), and of which I was proud.

The one aspect of failure that crept into them was, I tried to make them humorous and lighthearted.  She told me they had an "edge" to them.

That was her word: "edge."  I asked for clarification.  She told me it was a blackness, a dark overtone which, while the stories were funny, hung over them and made them darkly funny, not lighthearted.

This morning, with those same gray rays of dawn creeping over the ceiling and walls, she said it again, but she elaborated.  She told me despite my best efforts, I'd not created Norman Rockwell-esque stories.  She pondered, and stated:

"It's more like Norman Rockwell with a Stephen King edge."

I thought that was a perfect description of my life.  I couldn't have, in a million attempts, said it any better.  (I hate that.  I'm supposed to be the writer, dammit.)

I pondered that, and have been ever since.  I think, despite the attempts, my family missed Rockwell when I was growing up.  We ended up just west of Addams Family instead, except without the campy humor.

I really haven't given those stories much thought since I wrote the last one some months ago.  I started, and finished, Ghost Hunters instead, and it took me in a new direction.  I'm not sorry, but I don't think I'm going to ignore those stories and yarns gleaned and inspired from my youth.  I may revisit them someday soon, if I can think of any new ones, and try to see if I can recapture that voice.  It was a lot of fun, and I thought it had potential.

The image of Santa, slurring and sloshing around in his red suit, bulbous red nose fairly aglow with alcoholic rush, dribbling rum down his nicotine-stained yellowing beard will always be with me.  If only I could paint images with my words as powerfully as my beautiful, dazzlingly sharp and articulate wife did, I'd probably already be on the NYT best-seller list.

Way to go, babe.  :)

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: life, writing, random thoughts