On Writing: Less Common Homophones, pt. 1

This post discussed some of the most common homophones. Today, I have the first half of a list of some of the less common ones. These are all words I've seen used incorrectly, or--worse!--words I have used incorrectly. These are also the words no one seems to correct on Facebook. 


Accept/Except

Accept means to receive or agree; except excludes something. I can accept everything, except what I can't.


Aisle/Isle

An aisle is a manmade walkway. An isle is an island. There are no aisles on this isle.


Adverse/Averse

Adverse means "opposite" and averse means "a feeling of opposition." She wouldn't be averse to you suffering adverse consequences.


Assure/Ensure/Insure

Assure is to tell positively. Ensure is to make sure. Insure is guarantee against harm. We assure you that we will ensure that you are insured.


Allusion/Illusion

Allusion is a reference, while illusion is deception. I don't appreciate your allusion to that illusion.


Born/Borne

Born means birthed while borne means carried or held. After the baby was born, her cries were borne on the wind.


Break/Brake

Break is destruction, brake is to slow or stop (or the device used to slow or stop). Don't break the brakes!


Canon/Cannon

Canon is the standard or a body of law. Cannon is a mounted gun. You can't use a cannon to blow holes in the canon.


Censor/Censer


A censor is someone who suppresses art that they consider morally objectionable; to censor is the act of doing so. A censer is a closed container in which incense is burned. There's no reason to censor the censer.


Council/Counsel


A council is a governing body. To counsel is to give advice. The council offered to counsel the young witch.


Cite/Sight/Site

To cite is to mention a source. Sight is the sense you need your eyeballs for. A site is a location.


Capital/Capitol

Capital is the official seat of government. Capitol is the building used by the seat of government. The capitol building is in the capital city.


Climactic/Climatic

Climactic has to do witch climax, while climatic has to do with climate. The Little Ice Age was a climactic climatic event.


Complement/Compliment

To complement is to complete something. To compliment is to offer praise or approval. The guest complimented the host on her choice of wine since it complemented the meal so well.


Defuse/Diffuse

Defuse is to make less dangerous. Diffuse is to spread out or disperse. By defusing the bomb, he diffused the situation.


Discreet/Discrete


To be discreet is to be unobtrusive. Discrete is apart or detached from. Discrete entities must be discreet when they meet.


Desert/Dessert

Desert is a climate where liquid water is scarce or to abandon someone or something. Dessert is the sweet treat at the end of a meal. Don't desert your desserts in the desert!


Elicit/Illicit

Elicit is to bring forth. Illicit is another word for illegal or not approved. She elicited confessions of an illicit affair.


Emigrate/Immigrate

Emigrate is to leave, immigrate is to arrive. People emigrate from Michigan and immigrate to Texas.


Flair/Flare

Flair is natural talent or smartness of style. Flare is unsteady burning. His flair for the dramatic has a tendency to flare up on the weekends.


Grisly/Grizzly

Grisly is horrible. Grizzly is grayish or a type of bear. We stumbled across the grisly remains of the grizzly bear attack.

Part two of this post is coming soon!

Why The Kindle Is Awesome (and Why You Don't Have To Give Up "Real" Books If You Get One)

There is a slight huge chance that I'm going to come off sounding like some late-night infomercial in this post. I apologize in advance. Also, I'm sure that this post will apply to all dedicated electronic readers and even the apps for your phone/tablet computer/computer, but I am specifically extolling the virtues of the Amazon Kindle because that's what I have.

Instant gratification. 

Download books and be reading within moments. The book can either be downloaded directly to the device, or can be downloaded to your computer and transferred to the device. There's no more waiting for your favorite bookstore to get a new shipment of that bestseller you're just dying to read. There's no more waiting for your Amazon order to come in. And with lending, there's no more waiting for that book you want to make it to your branch of the local library system. 

One-handed reading.

The small Kindle is light enough to hold with one hand, you don't have to struggle to turn the page because it's super easy to turn the page with your thumb, and you don't have to fight the pages to stay flat.

Built-in audio book.

If the book has text-to-speech enabled, you don't have to shell out the $30 for the audio book. Granted, the robotic voice maybe isn't as smooth as a real live person reading the book, but considering that you just saved $30, it's worth it.

Automatic bookmark. 

It's really, really hard to lose your place. When you slide and release the power switch to get rid of the screen saver, you go automatically to the last page you were reading. Even if you go back to the home page and click on a book you were reading and didn't finish, you go straight to the last page you were on. If you're reading a book on more than one device, you can go to the menu and sync to the furthest page read.

Carry around your entire library comfortably. 

Whenever someone tells me they can't give up "real" books, my first response is always this: "How many books that you just love to read are you carrying right now? What happens if you finish it? I have 350 books in my purse right now." The Kindle can hold a lot of freaking books. It can hold more than your purse, briefcase, or diaper bag, that's for damned sure.

Adjustable text size. 

Problem: you want to read, but there isn't much light and you don't have a flashlight or penlight on hand. Solution: enlarge the text size. You may have to turn the pages more frequently, but you can still read! 

Hide "guilty" pleasures. 

Romance. Erotica. Anything by Candace Bushnell or Laurell K. Hamilton (post-Obsidian Butterfly). You can read whatever you want because there is no book cover to give away your secrets!

Hide conversation starters.

There are some books that just seem to invite people to comment on them. No book cover, no conversation! (Except for the one you'll have about how awesome your Kindle is.)

Quick library organization.

This originally read "instant," but I went through my Kindle yesterday and actually organized my library by collections, and it was not instant. Organization by title, author, or most recent (most recently read or most recently downloaded, depending on how you got to the home screen) is instant, though. If you enjoy alphabetizing your books you might not enjoy this feature, but for those of us who don't have time, it's pretty sweet.

Make notes/highlights/dog-ear pages without damaging the book.

You're not supposed to turn down the corners of book pages to save your place, but I always do. I have books full of scribbling in the margins and highlighted passages. I have books with spines so cracked I can't read the title or author at a glance. I even have books that have been so well-used that they have no covers. None of these things are a problem with the Kindle. Adding a bookmark takes a few clicks, highlighting and adding notes is a few clicks and some typing, and the device itself is remarkably tolerant of the gentle abuse that books inevitably suffer. 

Indie authors.

So far, I have books from Michelle Muto, Michelle Brooks, Justin Scro, Justin Sigler, and Amanda Hocking (to name a few) loaded on my Kindle. I had to stop buying books because I was buying them faster than I could read them. There is an entire universe of independently published authors who are extremely talented. Electronic readers gave them the opportunity to reach their readers, and I am reached. 

Lower book prices.

Books out on the shelves in paperback seem to be about 10% - 20% cheaper as an ebook. The difference between hardcovers and ebooks is even greater, sometimes as much as half off. This doesn't even include the indie books, which are frequently priced at premium impulse-buy amounts of $0.99, $1.99, and $2.99. Without the work and resources required to print and distribute "real" books, publishers--and self-published authors--can afford to set lower prices.

Free books.

There are thousands of books, at least, that are now in the public domain because their copyrights have expired. Project Gutenberg alone boasts 36,000 available for download. Amazon regularly has hundreds--at least--available for free. Authors regularly offer their books for free on Smashwords. Free is better than low, isn't it?

So all of those are reasons the Kindle is awesome. I'm not really allowed to talk about mine all that much around my friends because I tend to ramble and praise and rave about it. (I can't help it. It's the single greatest thing I got for myself last year. I should have bought one years ago.)

Whenever I mention to a fellow reader that they should consider a Kindle (or a NOOK, or a Sony, or whatever), the number one response I hear against an e-reader is: "But I just can't give up real books!"

There's a very, very simple response to this: "Then don't."

For the sake of argument, though, I'll go a little more in depth. 

Just because you have an e-reader doesn't mean you can't ever read a "real" book again.

There is no rule that says you can never buy another "real" book. Some books aren't available electronically. (For example, until the end of June, most of the Star Wars expanded universe books weren't available.) Sometimes you just want a real one. Sometimes book shopping is an impulse thing. Owning an e-reader does not mean you're going to stop buying books--most people don't. (I have Googled to find the numbers, but for some reason, my Google-fu is failing me. If anyone knows where I can find these hard numbers again, I would really appreciate it!) You might buy fewer "real" books, but you probably won't stop buying them at all. I haven't.

Reading is tactile, and electronic devices aren't sensuous.

Okay. You got me on this one. The Kindle doesn't smell like a book and it doesn't feel like a book. But it sure does read like one. And you can always buy this stuff to spray when you're reading. Honestly, I have not missed the smell of "real" books, the feel of flipping a page, or the sound of the first crack of the spine. I still have several bookshelves sagging beneath the weight of my library. One upside to the lack of smell from an e-reader, though, is the fact that it doesn't aggravate my asthma. 

Some books won't translate well to electronic readers. 

I have a gorgeous, enormous art history textbook that absolutely requires full-color plates. I have a copy of National Geographic: The Photos that does not belong on a Kindle (or a NOOK, or an iPad, or whatever). But I also don't carry these books around to read while I'm waiting in the doctor's office. 

It's not like your library is going to get up and leave you.

I mean, come on. Your "real" books aren't going to get butthurt, pack their bags, and call a cab when you bring home your e-reader. 

Monday Miscellany

Last night, I finished the first round of edits for "Santa Rosa, NM," the third story in Cass Gets Her Kicks and my first-ever lesbian erotica piece. I need to read it over before I send it off to the betas, but I think I'm pretty proud of it. As long as I keep up this pace, I should be on track to have the collection submitted to Smashwords and Amazon by August 15th. I just have to stay focused.

A friend of mine reminded me of Hyperbole and a Half, and I spent some time reading those posts late last night. Know what else I discovered through that blog? Word Bubbles. Try it! It's fun!

The next blog post on less-common homophones is taking up so much time. I don't feel like it's going very well. I may put off finishing it for a while and focus on either the e-reader post or the confusing/misused words post. I'm not sure. I do know that once these are done, I'll be researching punctuation to review. 

Over the weekend, I discovered Melissa & Joey, a sitcom on ABC Family that stars Melissa Joan Hart and Joey Lawrence. The noise I make every time I see the title screen is somewhat embarrassing. I love sitcoms and, like most people my age, I grew up watching Blossom, Clarissa Explains It All, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Seeing them all grown up is weird, but completely enjoyable. It's just a fun show. It certainly doesn't hurt that Mel's wardrobe is perfect.

In completely personal news, today is special for three reasons: it's my mom's birthday (Hi, Mom!); my husband was promoted to sergeant this morning; and today is the first day of the month in which my daughter turns a year old. It's kind of a big day for us all.

Blog Roundup: July 25 - 31, 2011

From Sirra's blog this week, there was a third installment of her #writetip tweets. (You can find the first and second installments here and here, respectively.) They're all very good tips, but I like the personal touches she adds with the #stabby and #StrokeJob hashtags.

Heather Adkins posted this week at her blog about formatting your ebook for Smashwords. It's in five parts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) but seems to be well worth it. At the very least, it's one more resource at your disposal.

Chuck Wendig posted on writers and rock stars. It, like pretty much everything else the man seems to have ever written, is NSFW, and, of course, worth it. Just don't drink anything while you read his blog. I mean it. You should also probably read the most recent installment of his "25 Things" series.

Imran Siddiq posted Twitter tips! They're pretty good tips. The "tweet regularly" and "interact" tips apply to any social networking, I think. I also think there's some merit in his "follow selectively" tip. I do follow what, for me, is a really high number of people. And I will continue to follow more, I'm sure, when I find people who interest me or who offer something I find useful. Twitter is a great place to get information and meet fellow indie authors.

Victoria Schwab is so adorable that sometimes it hurts. Her first book comes out in a couple of weeks, and she's doing a giveaway on her blog to celebrate. I love her enthusiasm. It's hard not to be completely thrilled for her (and to really want her book!) when I read one of her posts or tweets.

I slacked on my reading this week since I've been spending so much time editing the stories for Cass. When I wasn't editing, I was working on drafting blog posts. Excuses, excuses. Still, the above posts are the ones that stuck out for me.

SitRep Saturday: Cass Gets Her Kicks & My Website

This week, I finalized the drafts for the first two stories for Cass Gets Her Kicks, "Galena, KS" and "Vega, TX." The first story is already with the beta readers--one beta has even sent it back--and the second will go out tonight. I also started work editing "Santa Rosa, NM," which is the third of four stories in the anthology.

Right now, I'm hoping to have it finished and up for sale at Smashwords and Amazon by August 15. I'm not holding my breath, but it's a goal.

I made some changes to the website: new header image, change of color scheme, edited biography, links to my Facebook fan page and my Twitter profile, and a "coming soon" page for Cass Gets Her Kicks featuring the cover art and the "back cover" synopsis.

It has been a productive week!

On Writing: Common Homophones

A homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word, but does not mean the same. The English language is just full of these. They're dangerous. They're sneaky. They can make even the smartest person look like a boob.


I'm positive that we've all been there. I know I have: I'm tired or not paying attention, and I use your instead of you're. Then, when I go back to read what I've written, I want to die of shame. (Maybe that's extreme. But I'm sure you get what I mean.) Spell check isn't going to catch this, but your readers certainly will. What I do, as described in tip number four of this post, is run a search for the words I tend to abuse when I'm done with what I'm writing. This may not always be practical, but it certainly cuts down on my mistakes. 


We probably all know the most common ones. Facebook is full of your friends, family, coworkers, and classmates who misuse them all the time. 

Affect/Effect


Affect can be a verb that means "to have an impact on something" or a noun that means "influencing behavior or action." Effect is a verb that means "to cause change" or a noun that means "the consequence" or "the state of becoming operative." When you affect something, there are effects. 


Its/It's


Its is possessive. It's is a contraction of "it is." It's its own worst enemy.


Peace/Piece

Peace means "tranquility or quiet" while piece means "part of a whole." You won't have peace of mind until you give her a piece of your mind.

Than/Then


Than is for comparison, while then is for order of events. Then she smiled brighter than the sun.


Their/There/They're


Their is possessive. There is a place indicator. They're is a contraction of "they are." They're going to be there for their party.


To/Too

To indicates direction or intention. Too means "also." I want to go too!

Your/You're


Your is possessive. You're is a contraction of "you are." You're going to get your comeuppance. 


Whose/Who's


Whose is possessive. Who's is a contraction of "who is." Who's going to know whose it is?


The definitions provided are simplified; the links should take you to more explicit and in-depth definitions. 

Monday Miscellany

There is a blog post on homophones in the works. It might be too big for one post (I have kind of a short attention span) so it might end up as two, but it is in the works. It should be up tomorrow or Wednesday... I hope.

I am almost done editing the third of five pages of "Galena." It. Is. Taking. Forever. I'm the sort of writer who hates sending anything to a beta unless I feel like it's ready to be public. While this particular neurosis has served me very well in the past by making the work of my beta readers and editors relatively easy, the actual work that goes into it can get pretty stressful and intense. I know it will all be worth it.

Quick blogroll: Sirra the Editor posted Fundamental Advice For Every Writer and it should probably be required reading for anyone who hopes to make a living with their words; she also has this post about How Not To React To Negative Reviews and while I can't be certain that she was referring to the incident at BigAl's Books and Pals blog when he reviewed Jacqueline Howett's The Greek Seaman, it does exemplify her point; Stella Deleuze has this post on dialogue and this post on her policy of giving reviews, the first of which is very useful advice (especially if you're like me and hate dialogue) and the second of which is thought-provoking; and, finally, Chuck Wendig (who you may or may not realize I kind of have a writer's crush on) posted a new Search Term Bingo entry, and it's funny enough to make you shoot your drink out of your nose, so I suggest not drinking anything that might hurt.

While researching the romance and erotica market, I came across this site which has a ton of information on publishers, the market in general, and sales. I also came across this site, which hurts my eyes to read and has some posts I didn't really "get" but seemed kind of useful nonetheless. If you're looking for romance/erotica-specific stock photography, Razzle Dazzle Stock has a pretty decent collection and reasonable prices. They even have premade covers!

SitRep Saturday: Cass Gets Her Kicks

I spent most of the week working on Cass Gets Her Kicks. All four stories are drafted, I am pretty sure I have a book cover, and I've written up the summary and the acknowledgments.

Here's the book cover I think I'm going with:

And here's the "back cover" summary I worked up:

"Cass Reed had always dreamed of crossing America on Historic Route 66. Recently divorced and determined to make a new life for herself far away from her ex-husband and his pregnant mistress, she set out for Los Angeles in a lovingly-restored vintage car.

After a long, boring drive from Chicago, she stops in Galena, Kansas at a roadside motel and promptly finds the nearest bar. There Cass meets the young mechanic, Gavin, who shows her that some men are very good at following orders and that the Magic Fingers still have their uses.

Still relishing the memory of Gavin, Cass stops next in Vega, Texas. She visits another local bar on impulse, where she meets cowboys Joe and Miguel who are only too happy to give Cass a night to remember.

The drive out of Vega does little to arouse her interests, so Cass makes a stop in Santa Rosa, New Mexico to do laundry and break up the monotony. In a laundromat, she meets Felicia, who invites her out to her grandfather's ranch for a swim in a private lake and an afternoon that expands her horizons.

Finally, in Flagstaff, Arizona, Cass stops early. After a full afternoon at the local spa, she books a room at a famous motel and heads to the cocktail lounge for drinks. There she meets Angela and her husband Kevin who invite Cass to celebrate Kevin's birthday with them. In a red room on the third floor, she learns that exhibitionism and teamwork are keys to a happy birthday.

Each erotic short was written to be read and fully enjoyed in half an hour or less. The stories contained in this short anthology are sexually explicit and intended only for mature audiences."

I'm sure it'll undergo a couple of edits before I settle on the final wording, but I still feel pretty accomplished.

Today, I hope to have the first revision of "Galena" done and sent off to a beta reader.

I also worked a little bit on Strawberry Moon this week. I've settled on a POV and a more specific genre for the novel. As soon as I'm done with Cass Gets Her Kicks, I'll be going back to Strawberry Moon to start hacking it apart and sewing it back together.

Funny Friday: xkcd.com

This comic makes me laugh. If you haven't seen it yet, spend a few hours looking through the old panels. It'll be worth it.

On Writing: Use Your Words

Words are the tools of (what I want to be) my trade. Sometimes, tools get a little rusty, though. The edges dull, the handles break, the dog buries them in the yard. When this happens, I like to refer back to some simple tips on word usage. I'm going to share my favorites with you. 


1. Use the right word.


There are two excellent quotes from Mark Twain to the effect of this tip. The first comes from "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses" and states: "Use the right word, not its second cousin." The second is more illustrative. "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug." Don't use a word that you don't mean, and only use a word if you do mean it.


2. Look it up.

Even those of us with decent vocabularies can benefit from the use of a dictionary. Make sure the word you're using means what you think it means, and make sure that it makes sense in context. If you don't know how to use a word correctly, don't use it at all. (Unless it's the right word. Then you need to learn it.)


3. Keep it simple.

Clear and concise writing is the goal. You want to communicate your ideas effectively, "effectively" meaning "so the reader understands what I'm getting at." They won't understand if you don't use clear language. Don't overdo it. The reader won't think less of you for using language they understand.


4. Check yourself.

There are so many commonly misused and misspelled words in the English language that it's a wonder any of us manage to communicate with each other at all. I like to keep a list of those words at hand, and when I'm done with whatever I've written, I do a search for each of those words to be sure I've used the word I was supposed to use. I make mistakes. We all do. That's why beta readers and editors are writers' BFFs. But developing your own checks and balances makes their jobs easier.