Today is September 9, 2009, which means it's another nerd holiday: 09/09/09. Depending on your perspective, we won't see another set of repeating dates until October 10, 2010 (10/10/10), and no repeating single-digit dates until January 1, 2101 (01/01/01).
So clearly, this is a day when you need to get your fill of mystical events and vibes of symmetry.
In honor of this special day, I present 9 Secret Insights into My Writing Career:
1. I write in Microsoft Word, 12-point Times New Roman, with a 1.5 paragraph space setting.
2. I always come up with the chapter titles before I write anything else. Sometimes even before I know what will be in the chapters.
3. Before I begin writing, I find out what my publisher expects in terms of word count. I then determine how many words will be in each chapter. Then I make sure I come close to that word count.
4. I never have to pad out a chapter to meet my self-imposed chapter word count. In most cases, I end up remove stuff because I write too much.
5. I have several writing tics that my faithful readers have no doubt noticed. These include asking and answering one-word questions (That? Can be annoying), self-indulgent footnotes, and use an over-reliance on the colon (which is also a problem I have in real life).
6. I use Wikipedia a lot for my initial research. While it's not reliable as a single source, it's often a good introduction to a subject and makes me aware of connections between events, people, and ideas that lead me deeper into "real" research. So pretty much I love Wikipedia and I don't care who knows.
7. I am more nervous when I give a completed manuscript to my wife to read than when I first turn it over to my editor to read.
8. Because I write so often about religion, I can't type the name Chris -- my brother-in-law's name -- without automatically adding the "t" to the end of it: Christ. This instinct may also be on account of me being super-pious.
9. Due to my advertising/copywriting background, I have gotten to write the back-cover copy for almost all of my books. As I understand, not many writers get this opportunity. Not sure if that's good for me or not -- sometimes I wonder whether I'm too close to the subject to take on such a big marketing role. Bonus: I also wrote the back-cover copy for this book. And this one. And this one.
---------------
Anyhow, happy 9s Day.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
9 Secret Insights on Nines Day
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Besides for this :) when is it appropriate to use a colon? and how do you determine to use a colon over a semi-colon? ;)
Ian: The rule is to use a colon after a complete statement for the purpose of introducing one or more directly related ideas. Like a list or comment or explanation. Samples below:
-------
There are three things I love about dairy products: cheese, cheese, and cheese.
St. Joseph of Cupertino had an unfortunate nickname: The Gaper.
-------
Semi-colons have a completely different use. They join related independent clauses in compound sentences, and occasionally act like commas to separate items in a series.
I don't use semi-colons very often, but I use colons all the time. They are a good way to build anticipation in a sentence.
In related news, this is the nerdiest comment I have ever written.
Jason, you know I love your writing, but I have to be honest with you - your quirks are a little boring - I prefer the Hunter Thompson approach, there's someone who had some quirks. Hmm, can I re-do that "Jason style" - how about this:
Quirks? Yea, Hunter Thompson had them.
OK, kind of lame.
By the way, everyone in my office was wondering what exactly to do on 9-day - I guess you answered that question for us.
I'm personally looking forward to 11/11/11
I do the Chris/Christ thing as well (just did it when I typed this sentence). I guess it's from working at a church for two years. I was always afraid I wouldn't catch it one time and accidentally commit heresy by deifying someone.
Post a Comment