Aug 18

It’s right there on the cover: “The sequel to the award-winning…” That’s a challenge for the author.

It’s right there on the cover: “The sequel to the award-winning…” That’s a challenge for the author. How do you do a Book 2 that won’t be a disappointment after Book 1 won every award going?

I think Ann Leckie rose to that challenge and wrote an immaculate book with a great deal of depth, though I did feel that clearer story stakes would have made it more gripping. 

Full review behind the link.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show?id=1333985133

Aug 06

Indispensable Writing Books: The Well-Presented Manuscript

Indispensable Writing Books: The Well-Presented Manuscript

I recently donated a large box of writing books to the library, including my copy of The Elements of Style. I’d owned it for a long time and had never found it useful for what I actually needed in my writing. 

Enter Mike Reeves-McMillan’s new book, The Well-Presented Manuscript. I was offered a copy in exchange for an honest review, and decided it was worth checking out. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to get with this book.  I know Mike here on Google+ and he is a prolific writer whose stories and books are both traditionally and independently published. He also used to be a professional copy editor. I figured he knew his stuff about getting editors and agents to take a look at your work.

This book is part formatting guide and part grammar guide. In fact, you could use it as a checklist while preparing your book or story. Did I format my manuscript correctly? Have I made any of these common grammar mistakes?

I confess that the grammar guide made my eyes glaze over. There were a few rules I still couldn’t understand, even after Mike’s introduction and excellent examples. There’s a reason I hire a professional editor (the fantastic Karen Conlin) for my work. However, I found the sections on adjectives and adverbs quite informative, and the long list of homonym errors was incredibly helpful.

I hope Mike will put this out in a hardcover version. A reference like this would be very handy to have on the writing shelves, and it’s one, unlike Elements of Style, that I’d actually look through when I needed the help.

Available on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1IKMrHK

#indispensablewritingbooks   #grammar  

Aug 04

Yes!

Originally shared by Larry Panozzo

Yes!!! There’s hardly any technology that gets me more excited than BMIs (brain-machine interfaces). Think back to how everyone’s lives changed when they suddenly had pocket computers (smartphones). When BMIs improve and then go mainstream, everyone’s level of productivity is going to skyrocket. Whether they use this newfound transhuman ability to browse the web’s increasingly mindless content or use it for enhanced productivity is up to them. Did I mention you can easily use them for mind-mind communication? It’s not sci-fi, just technology.

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/211388-brain-controlled-prosthesis-nearly-as-good-as-one-finger-typing