Grammar Police Undercover: Pet Peeves At The Donut Shop

I’ve admitted it before: I love words, and, conversely, it causes me physical discomfort (and even agitation) when simple grammatical phrases are misused, abused, and generally disrespected by the very professionals who are (ostensibly) supposed to treat them kindly. One of the more popular commercials that aired for the Super Bowl this year was notable […]

 

Adverbs and Adjectives are NOT Your Friends

Okay, maybe they are friends, but let’s agree to classify them as the kind of friends you invite to your house and after a half-hour spend the rest of the night hatching different plans to get them to leave. Seriously. Too many writers, particularly when starting out, think that the more they sprinkle their prose […]

 

BookBub: Indie Savior Or Donald Trump In Sheep’s Clothing?

A while ago (over a year) a writer friend turned me on to an advertising site that was not cheap, but had an extraordinarily large email list of readers in myriad genres. In other words, a bit of the Fountain of Find-the-Readers into which to bathe one’s books and come out the other side better-known […]

 

Amateurs? OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!

The other day I received one of the strangest letters I’ve ever, well, received. First, I should clarify it wasn’t what most call “letters”. I’ve come in this digital age to think of writings more in terms of length, intent, tone, etc. rather than medium. Let’s face it, unless you’re vastly different than me, the […]

 

Even The Mighty Smaug Had A Weak Underbelly

My magnum opus received a rejection today, not for publication, but rather, that it was not qualified for a review by any “reviewers” on the website “The New Podler Review of Books: Small Press and self-published books worth reading”. Now I don’t remember ever submitting a review request to this site, although it’s possible. I […]

 

Will Television Really Rot My Brain?

On April 24, 2013, in Opinion, Poor Writing, Rant, Soap Box, Television, Television Writing, by rsguthrie

I have always been a little addicted to television (which is like saying you’re a little pregnant, I know). The irony is that I grew up with crappy television and in my young adulthood, as much as the box still lured me into its glowing beam, I did formulate an opinion that watching the boob […]