Funny Friday: The Shatner Comma...

Picked this up on Facebook the other day. What, do, you, think? :D

Wow, What a Week!

It has been a pretty amazing week -- or three -- around Casa Sheridan. First and second round edits for Brad and Angel's story, Just a Little More (Secrets To Hide 3) are completed. Since the first round included adding three new scenes (one of which was an entire chapter!), this took up a good chunk of time, but the results are oh so wonderful! Just a Little More is off to lines, and hopefully we will have a release date very soon. Don't worry; I'll definitely keep you updated! In addition, my editor cap has been incredibly busy. I've edited six -- count them again...SIX -- full-length books in the last two and a half weeks. No wonder I was completely fuzzy on Friday! I turned in the last book late Thursday night (okay, early Friday morning), and that was it. My brain shut off. Ever have those days? The ones where work is so involved and you give it all you've got until your brain just won't function anymore? Yep, that was me. I spent Friday in a complete fog. But now Monday is here and I can get back on the bandwagon of work and writing -- mostly writing! -- and feel productive (instead of like I was run over by a steamroller!) once more. :)

So, what's the point of today's post then? Am I just whining about how busy I've been? Well, kinda. ;) But I also wanted to share a little bit about what I do on the other side of my life, my Day Job as a line editor. I get to work with some fantastic authors on a regular basis -- I think I figured last year that I edited somewhere around 60 books? This past week I got to work on a very special project for my sister, Dani Wade. I finally got the chance to edit her second Backstage Pass book, Settling the Score! This book features Daniel Korvello, front man for the rock band Solar Uprising, and his sexy publicist, Becca Buchanan. Here's Dani's description of their story:

Daniel Korvello isn’t your average Joe with a case of unrequited lust. He’s a hard rock front man who wonders if his publicist will ever see him as anything other than a job. Then they team up to hunt down a threat to Daniel’s family…and he seizes the chance to show her he’s up for more than just a one night stand.

Becca Buchanan already lived through one rock-star scandal with her reputation barely intact. She’s determined never to put herself, or her family, through that again. Only she can’t deny the desire she feels for Daniel. When he exposes the molten heat beneath her Ice Maiden exterior, she may never be able to freeze him out again.

Then their amateur investigation takes a dangerous turn that threatens the lives of those they both love. Can their newfound trust extend past the bedroom? Can Daniel let go of his guilt enough to embrace a future with Becca?

Dani's first Backstage Pass novel, Finding Her Rhythm, told the story of Michael Korvello, Daniel's brother and guitarist for the band, and his nanny. The story was HOT, HOT, HOT, and so were the glimpses of Daniel we got, which was why I asked Dani to let Daniel make a special guest appearance in my second book, Naughty Little Christmas. That's right, our books intertwined! The connection made it that much more special to help Dani get Daniel's story out to the world. So if you're interested in hot rock stars with a penchant for blindfolds and outdoor sex and growly, sexy song lyrics, check out Dani's new release. You won't be disappointed!

Settling the Score is available at Amazon here. And if you enjoy it, don't forget Michael's story, Finding Her Rhythm. Enjoy!

No Sick Days

There are no sick days in writing. Okay, for some people there are, but unfortunately I’m not one of them. Between the kids and the editing gig and just plain normal maintenance -- hey, this body didn’t get this way by itself. Actually, it did, but I’m trying to work on that! ;) -- I have to write when I have time, not when I feel like it. And that means writing when I’m sick. Depressed. Just don’t want to.

Suck it up, buttercup. You still have to write.

This week I’m on a deadline. My wonderful editor has sent me revisions that will make Just a Little More a “more better” story. And that means I need to actually follow through on them (imagine that!). I spent this past week struggling through therapy for a bulging disc in my neck, and this weekend both my son and I got hit with a nasty virus (him more than me). All I wanted was to curl up in the bed, cover my head, and sleep the bad feelings away…but I can’t. I have to write. The week ahead is already full of work, and the revisions have to be squeezed in around that. The whip must be cracked and the laptop must be opened. There’s no time to waste on a sick day.

My birthday is coming up in about six weeks. Think I could wish for a sick day when I blow out the candles? ;)

How ’bout you, do you get sick days? Wish you did? Save them for when you aren’t really sick? (Wish I had that option!)

~ Ella

Photo courtesy of mcfarlandmo.

"Real" words

For those of you who don't know, I'm not just a writer. I've spent most of my life studying, teaching, and editing the written word. I can't get enough of it, which is pretty funny when you think about the fact that I'm somewhat hindered in my ability to use said language verbally. (Yes, I'm socially awkward. :p ) I'm a professional line editor, which means I tell writers the correct way to "do things," so to speak. Not everyone likes it, trust me. I hear more negative comments about line editors than I do about bad reviewers. Writers don't want to be told their sentence is grammatically incorrect and therefore so dang confusing I can't understand what they are talking about. They don't want to be told that they've referred to two different characters as "he" in a sentence and therefore I can't figure out who is doing what. I totally understand--I get a bit "rabid" about my own prose--but still, some things are just necessary for comprehension, people! :)

Where was I? Oh...

So when I saw a comment on Facebook the other day about something being a "real" word, it got my attention (most things like this do). An author on my friends' list was teasing their fellow writer about a certain word ("friggin") being "real" because they'd found it on Urban Dictionary. She's right, it is a real word, though it is actually "frigging" (see definition in Merriam-Webster) or "friggin'" if you're from the South like me, but still, even though I knew they were joking around, I cringed. Ach! Not Urban Dictionary! It's the bane of my existence, people, seriously. It's like telling a historian you got information off Wikipedia--watch out for the seizure! Really, it is, because anyone can add a definition or example sentence (and I've seen some doozies!) to the website, and no one polices it for accuracy. Take a look at this:

Urban Dictionary Word of the Day, July 26, 2013 -- Moronimated: "something so dumb it has to be animated. Axe Cop's Sockarang is moronimated."

Or how about: Urban Dictionary Word of the Day, July 30, 2013 -- Almost-quaintance: "a person to whom one has at one point sent a successful social networking friends request or from whom one has accepted such request. 'I really need to clean up my facebook friends list; my news feed is painful to scroll through: It's full of so many strangers' bullshit.' 'Yeah, gotta' love those almost-quaintances!'"*

O_o

How about "snice," which apparently means "combination of snow and ice." Followed by the clear example of "Man, the dog just came in covered in snice. Awesome!"

Yeah, awesome.

And "January," "Everyone's favorite month!!! playing in the snow, snuggling by the fire, and having excuse for ur penis looking so small."

<choking on my own combination right now--of laughter and, yeah, laughter>

The term "blowjob" has many definitions on Urban Dictionary, many of which start with sentences like "The best part of sex ever." and "An act of awesomeness." Worthy of Merriam Webster, let me tell ya. And that doesn't include the entries around "blowjob," like "Blow Job A La Mode" (all capitalized--must be extra special!) and "blowjobalicious." How about "blowjobalotstanka" and "blowjobbery" (actually I think that one was spelled as two words, "blow jobbery," which must make it right, right?)? Seriously? Not to mention the examples, such as "Thnx, babe, that was the best blow job I ever did get." Oh the inhumanity!!! The--wait, "inhumanity" isn't a real word; it isn't defined yet on Urban Dictionary. The fuckupery! The fuckupance--sorry, fuck-upance!

Oh. My. God.

Seriously, folks, Urban Dictionary can be great for a laugh, it really can (as evidenced above :) ). I think most of us get that, and that's how we take it (as a joke). But do you know how many people take it as gospel? How many people refuse to use any other dictionary? How many authors I've seen in line edits who've sited Urban Dictionary as proof that what they wrote is correct? Um, no, it's not. Despite what every Tom, Dick, and Harry wants to post on Urban Dictionary (Tom, Dick, and Harry are "three young men that can be blamed for gay habits," by the way), it's not right. Not. Even. Close.

As casual as our world has become about everything from fashion to dating habits to what we can say on television, I do believe some standards give us a baseline for societal discourse. Personally, we may choose to meet it or not, but it's there.

Or maybe not, since according to UD, "baseline" is "the bare minimum standard that a girl must be at or exceed when considering fornication." Or "a sequence of low growling notes strategically played by nick beard, of the band Circa Survive, on his ernie ball music man stingray base guitar." (Apparently band names require capitalization but people names do not.)

Ookaaayyyy...

*Please note all grammar/punctuation errors were copied directly from the site and have abso-friggin'-nothing to do with me!