WRITING TIPS: EDUCATE ME

As a reader, my favorite authors often surprise me with thing I didn’t know.

While reading is primarily something I look to for entertainment, I like when the entertainment educates me or treats me to some fact I would not have looked up on my own.

Don’t stress over making sure it’s an obscure fact, many people and most people don’t know everything, and chances are something so trivial to you is news to someone else.

People like secrets, too. We don’t often read about the lives we are already living. We want to know how others live, what other people know.

FREE SHORT STORY: MOUNTAIN PASS

Dear Potential Reader,

The weather is warming up, and mountain laurels are starting to bloom all along the east coast. It might be worth the hike to the national and state forests, so long as you don’t find yourself trespassing, stumbling off the beaten path, disturbing an unnatural order as they do this short story . . .

CLICK HERE TO READ

MOUNTAIN PASS is an old tale from 2012, the 34th short story in a goal to write 1 short story a week for the entire year. I’d over achieve on that goal and while not all are gems, it’s fun to keep returning to this tale, which was so vivid in my mind as I was also hiking almost weekly during this period—often times alone which is a great way to let the mind wander into all the what ifs.

Last year, I took a hike with a fellow writer and a few snafus in the morning had us arrive late, and so on our way down the mountain we began racing the sunset, ending up two miles away from our ride when we were plunged into darkness. Every root a possible injury and those noises in the leaves . . . well, one hoped not every creature was stirring just yet.

Of course, I’m telling you this tale, so you know it turned out fine in the end, but not every is so lucky as you’ll find out in this short story . . .

Hope you enjoy.

All the best,

DAN JIRE

WORDING: HERB

Today’s wording is all about Herb Brooks, Herbie Hankcock, Herbie the Love Bug—no I mean herbs. One of those odd things the English language makes us remember is that there are silent h’s in our language. Like hour, when talking about an herb that is pronounced with a silent h we use ‘an’ instead of ‘a’.

I know it’s a silly rule, but I’ve always secretly liked it. I like saying ‘erb’ and if ever befriend a Herbert, I’m probably going to be obnoxious and call him Erb or Erbert or Erbie. Which I’m almost certain is a terrible joke he has heard way too many times before. So I’ll only refer to him that way in my head, lest I desire to lose a friend.

The silent h in herb really makes the word flow to that b sound at the end like a bubble gently breaking the water surface. Saying ‘Herb’ with the hard H sound reminds me of a frog late at night. Herb-bert-her-bert.

Other words that begin with a silent h also include:

honest, heir, honor, and the aforementioned: hour.

That’s pretty good company our herbs are in. Enjoy the silence.

WORDING is an ongoing (but irregular) series of posts I’ll be making about words. I won’t always delve into proper use. depending on the word and what it means to me and potentially others there may be articles about words that trigger me, words I love, words that always look misspelled to me and more.

WRITING TIPS: KNOCK IT OUT FIRST THING

The clock has struck 8 o’clock in the PM. You haven’t written all day–certainly intended to, needed to–but you didn’t. But you can’t stay up late, you’re all out of energy. You know whatever you force yourself to write you’ll have to rewrite. Why did you wait so long?

Most of us have all experienced that feeling that ‘now’ just isn’t the time to write something. We argue we don’t have time, we’re too drowsy, we just ate, or we need to wake up more.

Everyone is different, but when I’m making a run at a novel or other daily writing goal, getting it out of the way first thing really opens up the rest of the day. With the writing requirement fulfilled it takes the weight of stress off finding a time to write.

So, pour that hot tea or coffee and knock it out before the rest of your day (and your mind) decide ‘now’ is not the time.

FREE SHORT STORY: SLED AND YOU’RE DEAD!

Dear Potential Reader,

Need any reminders of the winter? Here’s one last snowy tale before the weather gets so hot we start to miss the opportunity for snow and school closings. In this tale, three boys get the day off with their dad for some backyard sledding and terror . . .

CLICK HERE TO READ

I’m of the variety of a person that loves seeing snow. I grew up plunging my face into the snow, trying to get that perfect frost-bitten look before mumbling, ‘Ben . . . Dagobah . . . Yoda . . .”

I still like to be reminded of winter weather (as we tend to get less and less here in Central Virginia). I’ll pop in EMPIRE STRIKES BACK or THE THING. But now that I’m older and snow impacts my safety and schedule, I do secretly cross my fingers for a warm winter. Perhaps the characters in this short story feel the same way.

Hope you enjoy.

All the best,

DAN JIRE