My 200th Post!

Ahem. Drum roll, please.

This marks my 200th post since starting my blog in 2013!

When I started this blog, I didn't have a clue about blogging in general, other than it functioning as anything from an online diary to a teaching or advertising tool. I've learned quite a bit along the way, and have made a number of online friends and friendly acquaintances through the experience. I've seen a lot of those original blogging friends fall off the map, so to speak, and I genuinely miss some of them.

I thought it might be fun to revisit the top posts of each year from then to now. If you're newer to my blog, please do check them out. They're a lot of fun! And if you were around back in the day, do you remember these oldies but goodies?

MyTop Blog Posts

2013

Green Eggs and Ham: A Fresh Look at a Dark Book AND Coffee Chat with S.K. Anthony

There were two top posts that first year, and they just happen to be two of my own favorites! The Green Eggs and Ham post was actually written by my Number Two Son, Jeff, then eighteen (he's now twenty-three and just got married last month). His "I don't know what to write" for a school essay tied with the original, very first, one-that-started-it-all Coffee Chat for the number one spot. This first Coffee Chat was special and fun, and in fact was so much fun that my readers asked for more, and CC became a regular feature for a total of twenty-nine posts full of ridiculousness, suspension of disbelief, and even good advice at times.

2014 

Coffee Chat 8.0 with S.K. Anthony: The Kidnapping of Janie Junebug

The number of blog visitors multiplied during 2014. Some of that was because we organized a huge giveaway, Share the Love, where four authors and I did the Rafflecopter thing. They gave away books, and I gave away an editing package. There was also talk of such dodgy prizes as an empty Thin Mints cookie box, "Pong" (the original video game), and a picture of David Hasselhoff holding an armload of puppies, but at the last minute, the authors involved decided to keep those special extras and only send books to the winners. That was also the year I first participated in the April A to Z Challenge, hopping all over the globe to other people's blogs while posting twenty-six times in April. However, those things aside, the real top spot went to Janie Junebug (who can be found at Righting & Editing). During one of the coldest winters in Erie, S.K. decided to kidnap a guest from Florida to "bring sunshine" to my kitchen. I'm pretty sure Janie has never really recovered.

2015

Well . . . the interesting thing about 2015 is that I didn't blog at all. Not a single word. And it just about killed me. Just as my blog was gaining all kinds of momentum, I had a job switcheroo happen (not quite my choice, and not a bad job, but just super busy on top of homeschooling) and by the end of 2014, I had to acknowledge that there was just no time to write for a while. In October of that year, I announced I was in need of a short break. And truly, it was intended to be only a few months off—just enough time to settle into a better routine and get my bearings—but a few months turned into a few more, and when I finally got to the point where I simply HAD to write, it was almost fifteen months later. But here's the cool thing. My post about taking a break ended up with tons of hits on it because some of you wonderful people kept checking in on me here and there. And I'm so glad you all didn't give up on me.

2016

Editor's Notes #23: Points of View Part 1—How Do I Choose?

Actually, all three parts of the POV series vied for the most-visited of 2016. Part 1 discussed the first-person POV, Part 2 talked about third-person point of view and the role of the narrator & viewpoint person, and Part 3 focused on how many points of view is enough, and when the line of "too many" has been crossed.

2017

Do I Have to Love a Genre to Edit It?

Reading for editing purposes is vastly different from pleasure reading. Whether I enjoy the heck out of a manuscript or not, the job still needs to be done well, because that's what I was hired to do. This post about the balance between enjoyment and duty ended up being the top post for 2017.

2018

Happy New Year!

Funny that a post on January 4 that talked about my previous year and the complete reboot halfway through it would be the most popular post of 2018, but there you go. The numbers don't lie. I think sometimes it's just nice to have a conversation with my readers, rather than trying to teach or inform, and I guess everyone else thought so, too. A close second was the first of my three-part series on Best Books on Writing and Editing, still worth taking a look at for the book recommendations.

2019

Editors: We Are Not the Grammar Police!

We're not very far into 2019, so there weren't many posts to choose from, but this particular one definitely wins for most views in 2019. Editors have such a reputation for negativity and pedantic behavior that every so often, it's important to remind others that we really aren't anything like the stereotype.

So What's Coming Up Next?

The Future of This Blog

It's only fitting that my 200th post will be my last "real" post here on Blogger. I've decided, after much thought, wasted time (I'm a slow thinker), and a hard look at the analytics that it's time to move my blog to another platform. My website is on Squarespace, and given that Google has shut down an avenue (Google+) that was a social media failure overall but that made it easy to follow Blogger blogs, I think it's best that I make the change sooner than later. 

I hope you'll all make the move with me, of course. The commenting on Squarespace is through Disqus, and you don't have to create an account anywhere to comment or use it—you can log in through Facebook, Twitter, Google, Disqus, or simply comment as a guest. I'm hoping this will simplify commenting, as I've heard from a handful of people that they've experienced trouble commenting on this blog more often than not.

So thanks for following along this far! And come to the new blog at https://easyreaderediting.com/blog so I don't miss out on catching up with any of you there. 

Coffee Chat 2.0 with Author S.K. Anthony: Revisions

If you haven't gotten around to reading the first Coffee Chat with S.K. Anthony, I'd suggest you take a moment to do so before even attempting to follow the conversation in this one. It's not easy to keep up with us on a good day; no sense starting off behind the curve.

I'm so thankful to have Stephen King back with me again today. We'll just refer to her as S.K. for ease and clarity, just in case the "other" Stephen King decides to show up. For the record, I did ask him, but he doesn't have a special coffee cup to match ours, and frankly, I think he was a little intimidated at the idea of trying to keep up with two overly-caffeinated women. Either way, S.K. is here and I'm glad she's still willing to talk to me.

ER: So what's been happening since our last interview? I'm asking this as if I don't know, because you and I both know we talk to each other almost every day . . . but for the purposes of Coffee Chat, we can pretend we only talk here on Easy Reader. We'll have to keep that a secret, though, so remind me not to type it in later.

SKA: Okay, if I don't forget to remember, I will remind you to take that bit out. Since the last time we talked . . . let's see, I drank more coffee, I tickled the kids, and I worked on some revisions. I'm so glad no one gets to see my first drafts. Goodness me . . . I'm so talented at making lots of mistakes the first time around that I'm even in awe of myself. What can I say? I'm that good at being bad. What have you been up to? And surprise me; tell me something I don't already know . . . GO!

ER: No pressure, no pressure. I think you already know I drank more coffee, so I can't use that one. My eighteen-year-old son (Mr. Green Eggs and Ham himself) is the only kid within reach, so I'm not going to risk tickling him. I did some edits this week for a horror story and scared myself. I now have an occasional facial tic and keep seeing odd movements out of my peripheral vision. I can't imagine how much more scared I would have been, had I been reading it straight up and not for edits.

SKA: I think it would be a fun experiment for you to tickle Mr. Green Eggs and Ham (great post, that one!). [laughing] A facial tic . . . scary books would do that to me, also, but then I would have wine and probably forget all about it. Speaking of, imagine if we had "Wine Chats." I'll bet it would like Coffee Chats but on steroids. Oh, my.

ER: I also received a really cool prologue for a new book and edited it by mistake. (Sorry, Stephen. Not my fault. It looked ready.) So I suppose I could use the excuse that I was trying out the Wine Chat all on my own.

SKA: Skipping ahead and having all the fun on your own with the wine. I'm not sure how I feel about this.

ER: [applying diversionary tactics] So let's get down to business! Because I'm fairly sure that was our original intent . . .

How's the new book coming? Do you have Static on the brain these days?

SKA: Okay, so the book. Yes, my hair is very Einstein-like. Not because of intelligence, contrary to my kids' popular belief, but thanks to all the Static-ness going on. The first draft has been read through by Mildred Loudermilk and she left a lot of notes for me. Now the real fun begins!

ER: Well, I already started having fun, so you have some catching up to do.

What's your first step after finishing the first draft? Obviously, you read through it, but do you look for certain things during that first time through, or do you just read it to see if it flows?

SKA: After finishing my first draft, I do a happy dance and I smile. Then I sit and cringe because that's when the real work starts for me. I like to revise a lot, so I focus on different aspects each time. The first time I'm writing I go for the general idea and the characters' journeys. Second time, I focus on the big plot, more detailed descriptions, and character voices. The third time, I try to make sure I have things explained well, and that I have the humor splashed around along with the emotional moments.

I check on facts (dates/timeline/repetition), and from there on, I fix and delete, fix and delete, and fix . . . as much as I can until my wine runs out. Then I send it off to one CP [critique partner] and revise again while hubby gets me more wine—

ER: Good man you've got there.

SKA: —and then I send it to my other CP & revise again while I chat with you. Then it goes to one or two betas and I revise again.

[ER runs off to refill coffee, exhausted from hearing all about the labor of others.]

SKA: Then I have a CP give it another go before I kill myself, and then if I can't do anything else to it, I send it to you so you can do your thing. [Breathes for just a moment.] Yeah . . . that's what I do.

ER: And you know I have to ask: If you read it out loud, do you read each character's dialogue in a different voice? 'Cause I would.

SKA: [laughing again] I "hear" the voices and make up my face according to who is talking and what is being said when I write it. When I'm reading out loud toward the end of the revisions, I actually try (really hard) not to make different voices, because I want to make sure the words themselves work to imply the tone I mean to imply. I'm not sure how to explain that, but I think you'll understand.

ER: I do. If you're able to use the right words, you can eliminate a lot of dialogue tags or adverbs. When McCoy from Star Trek delivers his, "I'm a doctor, not a magician/juggler/garbageman!" line, if it were written in a book, we don't need "he shouted" added to the end. Nor would we need to add any adverbs to clarify. The words themselves show the frustration.

SKA: Every reader has their way of approaching a book and the way the characters sound to them. If I talk to myself as if I'm them [the characters], of course I would think it sounds right, but if I try to speak straight up, I'm more aware of anything that sounds "off."

ER: So let's focus on the revisions for a moment. Unless you want me to do some of my character voices for you, of course. [Begins singing like Mary Poppins, since that's the only accent that works easily. Stops abruptly upon realizing people are home.]

You get asked to read a lot of books/manuscripts for review/advice, it seems. Of the books you find . . . um . . . let's say "lacking" in some way, can you point your finger to a lack of revisions as a running theme? What jumps out at you?

SKA: At the moment, "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" jumps out at me . . . you mentioned Mary Poppins . . . so anyway . . .

Yes, I do beta read a fair amount of manuscripts, but that's before they're published, so revisions would, of course, be lacking. In regards to published books that are also lacking something . . . it's hard to say. I feel like the problem might be revisions, but that's probably because that's my process. For the author, that might just be how they want their stories told, and I'm the one who just didn't connect. Since I can't outline for the life of me—I know how, but I just don't feel free enough to keep writing with a detailed outline; I rather pants around—but if they [other authors] outline and this is their story, I can't say they're wrong. Just that it wasn't for me.

ER: I almost followed that. I do get it, though: you're making allowances for personal writing styles. But what brings the extra "polish," so to speak?

SKA: The biggest mistake I think we can all make is to rush. Yes, we have a deadline. But you know what? At the end of the day, it's better to push back the dates and make sure everything's as good as you can get it, rather than to screw yourself over. Letting your manuscript sit for awhile and then going back to it with a fresh mind helps a lot as well. And I'm not saying I know much about this—I'm still learning—but it's what works for me. 

ER: I think you know more than you realize. When I first read Kinetic, my first thought was that it didn't have the feel of a first-time author. All those revisions pay off. It shouldn't take twenty years to produce a novel, but it shouldn't only take twenty days, either. The reader will notice.

SKA: I know that to the best of my current ability, I gave Kinetic my all, and I'm proud of what I wrote. My sixth-grade teacher once told our class to make sure we were proud of anything that carries our name, and that advice has always stayed with me (I'm sure Stephen King would appreciate that). Maybe I'll look back at it a few years down the road and want to shoot myself, but I will always be able to say confidently that I gave it everything I had. And at the end of the day that's what readers deserve. 

ER: Well, we're out of coffee, so the rest will have to wait until after the holidays. We'll be seeing you in a couple weeks!

You can find S.K. Anthony in a number of places. She's on Twitter @SKathAnthony, her website is www.skanthony.com, her Facebook page is S Katherine Anthony, and on occasional occasions, she'll be right here with me, drinking coffee and laughing it up over our latest plans and schemes. And possibly even talking about books and writing. 

You can find me here. I'm always here.

Green Eggs and Ham: A Fresh Look at a Dark Book

I've been between book edits recently. This can be a productive "down" time if I use it wisely, taking the opportunity to work on the never-ending house projects that seem to be . . . well, never ending. Living in a house built in the 1920s can do that. More often than not, though, I find myself anxious for the next round of edits to begin, whether with a new book or second-round revisions of a current WIP. I would much rather be editing than washing windows or decluttering (as my windows and clutter will attest).

Homeschooling provides me with numerous editing opportunities; the disadvantage to this is that my kids refuse to pay me for my services. Huh. 

In honor of not really having anything new to say, I thought today's blog post could feature my 18-year-old son's most recent English paper . . . kind of like when that Family Circus cartoon guy lets his son, Billy, take over. Without further ado . . .

The Real Green Eggs and Ham

Many consider it to be a normal children’s book, with little purpose other than to entertain with its rhyming, humorous illustrations, et cetera; any deeper meaning that may be found is generally cast aside, or perhaps watered down to a simple moral: “You never know you don’t like something until you’ve tried it.”  This is, of course, not the entire meaning that Seuss intended, and to say so would be an insult to the Doctor’s intentions.  The printed version of Green Eggs and Ham is a very selective telling of a much darker story, of harassment and kidnapping.

In the beginning of the book, a nameless character (assumed to be the protagonist) expresses an extreme dislike for a character named “Sam,” and rightly so, for Sam is notably narcissistic, parading about with a sign which reads, “I Am Sam” and, on the opposite side, “Sam I Am.”

 In the particular incident recorded at the start of the book, Sam has been riding strange animals through the protagonist’s house, waving his signs shamelessly, while the protagonist is minding his own business, attempting to read the morning paper. It is at this point that he expresses his dislike for Sam, and Sam, seeking further attention, inquires as to whether the man enjoys eating green eggs and ham, offering a plate of the stuff.  The protagonist, understandably enough, states that he does not, and refuses the offer. He does not mention a reason for disliking these foods; no doubt he assumed there was no need to do so. I mean, would you eat ham that had sat out long enough to turn green?  And there’s no knowing what was added to the eggs to cause them to be such a color.

Sam, of course, does not accept such a simple answer, and inquires further, asking whether he might enjoy them in a different location. The protagonist explains that the location makes no difference: it is the food to which he objects. Sam, undeterred, continues with his questions, asking if he might like the food better in a house, or perhaps with a mouse. The protagonist explains again that it is not the location, nor the company kept during the meal, but the food itself which puts him off from such a thing.

After this, the story begins to turn dark. Sam asks if the man would eat his food in a box, with a feral canine for company, and the man, not understanding the veiled threat, declines again. It is at this point that Sam abducts the man, throwing him into his car and driving off recklessly, all the while continuing to offer the food. He is quoted as saying, “Eat them! Eat them! Here they are.”

The man continuously begs Sam to let him go and leave him alone, but Sam does not heed his pleas. He drags the man onto a train—no doubt to escape the authorities more quickly—and from the train, to a boat, all the while urging the man to eat the food offered to him. It should also be noted that Sam keeps a live goat in his car, and it may be best not to speculate as to why. Shortly after they board the boat, it goes down—a direct result of Sam’s recklessness—and they are left swimming toward the nearest land mass; yet even while swimming for his life, Sam holds the eggs and rancid ham aloft, telling the insistently refusing man to eat it, because he may like it, if only he would try it.

The man is tired: he has been harassed, threatened, kidnapped and terrorized, and it has been the longest day of his life. He asks Sam if he will be released and left alone if he eats this food which Sam is so obsessively eager to share. Sam tells him that he will let him go if his conditions are met, so the man eats the food and pretends to enjoy it so as not to anger Sam by disliking what is apparently his favorite food. He even goes so far as to thank Sam for putting him through all this. After counseling, the man is able to eat normal ham again; however, he cannot bring himself to try eggs in most forms. 

Sam disappeared shortly after the incident and has not been heard from since.