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Spotlight on Intralingo (& other summer inspirations)
Translator Lisa Carter has been running a series of Translator Spotlights on her blog, Intralingo. Today, I’m the lucky guest. I hope you’ll visit (http://intralingo.com/?p=2938)–and have a look at some of the other translators who’ve been spotlighted as well! I’ve benefitted from Lisa’s collegiality and goodwill off line, too, so I’ll take this opportunity to […]
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Detour 40
40 Three or four drops per minute, the gutter assigns a steep crescendo to the slow, picking wind. Birds give way toward midnight, daybreak, dusk, a gathered loop indistinguishable from a low cloud, a harbinger, a loom–sand-drawn footsteps knotted in something that might resemble a pattern to the right eyes. Above all, cold, and the […]
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Verbicide, the misunderstood crime
The word of the day (happy result of a dictionary detour) is: verbicide 1. the willful distortion or depreciation of the original meaning of a word.2. a person who willfully distorts the meaning of a word. Note the deliberation: verbicide is a sin of commission. This isn’t malapropism, mistaken identity, well-meaning thought getting out […]
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Proofreading and Second Chances
It has never yet happened that, reading proofs, I haven’t found some dreadful if trifling error–often after 20 or 30 error-free pages, when I was beginning to wonder whether the task was, indeed, worthwhile. But there it will be, the third i in the middle of a word, the second however in a row. No […]
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Revision Detours
The beginning Directions were meant to be changed. One definition of a detour, from the OED on line: A turning or deviation from the direct road; a roundabout or circuitous way, course, or proceeding. That’s certainly the kind of trip described in Detours. “Detour” can also describe the revision process. Revision often means reaching […]
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Detours (and Signs)
Some signs are more directive than others Ordinarily, I grumble as much as the next person at the prospect of road work and its concomitant delays. But not lately: in preparation for the release of my chapbook, Detours, by Burnside Review Press, I’ve been collecting detour signs. Pictures of signs–I haven’t stolen any yet. I […]
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Anniversary Toast
On Friday, my husband and I will have been married 21 years. Last year, impatient (why wait for 25?) and feeling more than a little pleased with ourselves for having so well enjoyed our first two decades together, we threw a big party. This year, we’ll probably take the kids to the coast. But I’ve […]
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Some River Twice
Because it’s not the same river, right? But it’s a river all the same–another river, or the same pebbled bank on a different day, or the same water, further down stream. I recently participated in a writing workshop with Gary Soto–even better, I went as my daughter’s guest; a workshop spot was part of her […]
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Guest post tomorrow at The Blabbermouth
I’ll be guest blogging tomorrow with agent extraordinaire Linda Epstein (Associate at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency). Linda always has something interesting to say about writing, publishing, reading, traveling. . . and talking, naturally: her blog is The Blabbermouth. I’m thinking about writing and saving, writing and frugality. A few days late, but still […]