Category Community

Wanted: Rogue Words from A to Z

Sue Archer 38 Comments

Calling all readers…I need your help unmasking those treacherous words that hold your writing captive!

Is there a word that you always have to check to make sure you’re using it properly? Do you freeze in terror as you glimpse it in your mind’s eye? Does it laugh at you while stealing away your confidence as a writer?

Fear not, my friends. We will tame those rogue words together, and bring them to justice!

No, not him...we want the real bad guys!

No, not him…we want the real bad guys!

Send me your challenging words, and I will creatively describe how to master them in some fun posts for the upcoming A to Z Challenge in April. Yes, I have decided to participate in the challenge this year. I do not fear to take it on! (However, I do fear having to write 26 posts all in one month – so I am preparing for the fight now.) I want to capture as many tricky words as I can from my readers. So please post your word below, or feel free to send me a comment with your request. Whether it’s remembering how to spell a word, or when to use one of two similar words, or where to place an apostrophe, I want to hear about your worst nightmare word. And I will do my best to give you a bounty of laughs when I write about it.

Yours in pursuit,

Sue

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For those of you who have done the A to Z challenge before, any survival tips would be greatly appreciated! 🙂

(Image from Disney’s Tangled)

Life, the Blogosphere, and Everything: Changes Coming to DBW

Sue Archer 14 Comments

Today’s post is a smorgasbord of poll results, life events, and announcements of blog changes here on DBW.

I was realizing today that I have been blogging for almost six months. When I started this blog, I had a goal of creating one post a week. I am happy to say that I’ve been able to do that, and it’s been a fantastic experience for me. I love sharing what I’ve learned about communication in creative and fun ways. And I’ve met some great people!

But I still have more learning to do. Although I have spent years writing and editing in my various day jobs, I’m constantly looking for ways to learn more and improve my skills. (If I could get paid to learn, I would take that job in no time flat!) So I’ve decided to take a university course in substantive and stylistic editing this fall. I am looking forward to this course a lot, but it means that I will have less time for blogging over the next three months. The good news is that I will be able to take all of those juicy tidbits I pick up from my course and share them with you. But if you don’t see me for a little while, it’s because I haven’t had time to post on them yet. I think I am going to be doing more liking than commenting on your blogs, too, since I will only have so much time to read! Please bear with me as I learn more about how to help writers craft a great book.

blogging

Don’t worry, content is coming! Source: www.xkcd.com

I also wanted to let you know that the content of my posts will be changing (more like expanding). Back in August, I posted a poll asking you, dear readers, what you would like to see more of on my blog. Thank you to those of you who participated. Here’s a summary of the results:

Most of you liked anything to do with communication, whether on writing topics or on other topics. So I’m not going to try to specialize in any particular communication topic, but will keep providing variety. I tend to slant more towards writing topics, so that will probably keep happening.

The top two new post ideas that you liked were definitions of terms and recommended resources. So in the future, I am going to post four types of posts:

– The “story” posts, where I will weave writing and grammar tips into a fictional story setting.

– The “metaphor” posts, where I will use TV, movies, and sci-fi/fantasy pop culture to illustrate points about communication.

– A new series of posts called “Universal Translator,” where I will pick a tricky term and define it using fun sci-fi/fantasy sentences. (This includes confusing usages of similar terms, like effect vs. affect.) I need your help with this one! In the comments, please post any terms that you’d like to see defined. (I remember the first time I saw the term “dangling participle” on a returned essay, and was embarrassed because I had no idea what a participle was. So please don’t be shy! Share any terms that you think are tricky. Otherwise I will inflict my own terms on you! Bwah ha ha.)

– A new series of posts tentatively called “DBW Discoveries,” where I will share my thoughts on different communications learning resources – books, websites, you name it. (I have some current faves, but I’m sure I’ll be finding more in my upcoming course.) I’m always on the lookout for good sources of learning, so please feel free to post any in the comments. If you know anyone who’s written a helpful resource, I am happy to read through it and provide an honest review.

I hope you will enjoy the changes, which I’ll be adding in gradually over the next little while. Any feedback is appreciated!

Thanks for making this such a fun ride. I’ll see you again soon, whenever I have time to pull myself out of the books. 🙂

All the best,

Sue

Readership Award

Sue Archer 21 Comments

Fantastic blogger Celine Jeanjean recently nominated me for the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award. This award recognizes people who support other bloggers by being active readers who make thoughtful comments. Thanks so much, Celine! I feel very honoured to be receiving this award.

Wonderful Team Member Readership Award

One of the things I love the most about blogging is connecting with other bloggers and having great conversations. If I read someone else’s post and I have enjoyed it, I try to comment. It’s hard to find the time to read everyone’s posts and even harder to spend a lot of time on commenting, but it’s been so rewarding for me. It’s allowed me to meet new friends and develop new ideas. And I hope it’s helped other bloggers to feel that they are not alone in this writing universe.

If it weren’t for my readers, there would be no purpose for my writing. So thank you to everyone who has ever read, liked, or commented on my posts.

I’ve posted the full rules for this award at the bottom, which I am following in spirit. I’d like to nominate the following readers for the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award:

Lori MacLaughlin, who regularly posts thoughtful and encouraging comments not just to my blog but to many other blogs that I follow. Lori is a class act who completely fits the “team member” focus of this award. Thank you, Lori, for continuously making my day by chatting with me about my posts.

Shelley Sackier, who faithfully reads every single one of my posts and writes wonderfully positive and detailed comments. Shelley, if there were more readers like you, everyone would want to blog every day just to receive those comments. Thank you, Shelley, for always making me laugh.

Melissa Janda, whose supportive and thoughtful comments during my starting months and beyond made me believe that I really can write a blog worth reading. Thank you, Melissa, for encouraging me when I needed it most.

Sonia Lal, who has given me such positive feedback on my posts and has made me realize that yes, other people do get my sense of humour. Thank you, Sonia, for taking the time to let me know that you enjoyed my posts.

Thank you to Celine Jeanjean, who truly deserved this award. I am happy you were nominated for it.

And special thanks to Nicole, Jaso, and TL, who do not have blogs but have supported my blogging by chiming in with their positive comments. I am grateful to all of you.

A great reader is someone who collaborates with the writer to build something even better. Thank you, readers, for helping me on my way.

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Here are the original rules for accepting this award:

  1. The Nominee of the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award shall display the logo on his/her post/page and/or sidebar.
  2. The Nominee shall nominate 14 readers they appreciate over a period of 7 days (1 week) – this can be done at any rate during the week. It can be ALL on one day or a few on one day and a few on another day, etc.
  3. The Nominee shall name his or her Wonderful Team Member Readership Award nominees on a post or on posts during the 7 day (1 week) period.
  4. The Nominee shall make these rules, or amended rules keeping to the spirit of the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award, known to each reader s/he nominates.
  5. The Nominee must finish this sentence and post: “A great reader is…”

Quick Summer Poll: What Would You Like to See on DBW?

Sue Archer 10 Comments

It’s summer, and I would like to spend some time enjoying the weather outside. So instead of a long post, today you get a quick poll! If you answer these two questions, I will buy you the fruity drink of your choice to sip out on the patio. (Okay, maybe I can’t do that, but if you get to the bottom of this post, I can offer you a cool virtual fruity drink instead.)

Since great communication is all about meeting the needs of your audience, I want to know what you would like to see on DBW. Thanks for helping me out!

 

And now, here’s your reward:

Hurricane at Pat O'Brien's

I’ve never been to New Orleans, but this picture makes me want to go there.
Source: Wikipedia

I hope all of you are enjoying the summer, wherever you are in the world today!

Sue

How to Communicate With Your Dragon

Sue Archer 4 Comments

This week on DBW, I am featuring a guest post by Andrew Knighton. Andrew writes fantasy, science fiction, and steampunk, and shares my passion for clear communication. Welcome to DBW, Andrew!

Communication isn’t easy, which is a shame, because it’s vital to human life. The ability to tell someone else how to grow crops, or how to read and write, or that you love them – these are fundamentals of human life.

Fortunately there are lessons on communication, as on everything in life, in that greatest source of human lessons – children’s animated fantasy films. Kids’ films get away with what adult films can’t, both in wild flights of imagination and in teaching us, gently but firmly, lessons in how to live. So today we’re going to learn from How To Train Your Dragon.

Set patterns – a communication problem

One of the greatest barriers to communication is that we each tend towards a single way of communicating. My way might not be the same as yours, but it’s my way and I’ll default to it every time. The same way of expressing ideas, the same mannerisms of speech, the same way of writing. Yoda doesn’t start using good grammar when Luke’s back is turned – he’s just being himself.

We can learn different ways to communicate – it’s a huge part of teacher training, as well as many management courses. But working out which style to apply in which situation? That can be far trickier.

How to train your humanHow to Train Your Dragon

This is where the wonderful How To Train Your Dragon comes in. You know that scene in the middle where… wait, you don’t know that scene, you haven’t seen the film, you thought it was just for kids? Well, you should probably fix that, because How To Train Your Dragon is a great slice of imaginative modern fantasy. A story of Vikings and monsters, of ambition and misunderstanding, of having your view of the world turned on its head.

Oh, and communication. The film is full of problems with poor communication and solutions that come from people communicating. No more so than in a scene where Hiccup, our teenage protagonist, tries for the first time to communicate with Toothless the dragon. The two have no language in common, no shared frame of understanding. How will he manage it?

The answer is trial and error. Hiccup uses gestures, speech, touch, even dirt drawings and piles of food. When Toothless seems wary of his raw fish dinner, Hiccup himself takes a scaly, slippery bite. No tactic works perfectly the first time, but by trying different approaches, by persisting not with his own preferred communication style but with everything he can think of, he eventually gets through.

Trial and error

I’m not suggesting that you bring raw fish to your next meeting, or try to resolve family conflicts by doodling in the dirt. But approaching the same act of communication in different ways can reap rich rewards.

I used to work in process improvement. As part of that job I often had to persuade managers to take risks in changing working practices. I tried using statistics. I tried using diagrams. I tried impassioned speeches and promises that I’d do all the work if they just let me fix this damn thing. Then one day, through endless trial and error, I discovered the tactic that worked on the worst of them – tell them my idea, shut up, and wait six months for them to think the idea was their own. Then they’d be all over it.

This was not my preferred way of persuading people. It was not what any of my training had taught me. But trial and error, not persisting at things that didn’t work, taught me how to do it. Like Hiccup, I had trained my managerial dragons.

Just keep trying

So go forth and try different ways of communicating. Don’t persist with what doesn’t work. Don’t even persist with what half works. Keep trying new things in new situations, and sooner or later you’ll find the right approach to each one.

And while you’re about it, you should go see How To Train Your Dragon 2, which is out now. Because what could be better than Vikings fighting dragons? That’s right – Vikings riding dragons!

***

If you enjoyed Andrew’s post, you should check out his blog or his wonderful short story “Surprise Me,” which was recently published in Daily Science Fiction.

This is the first time I’ve had a guest post. I’d love to know what you think, so please feel free to comment below. I like the idea of hosting occasional guest posts from my blogging community. If you’re feeling inspired by DBW to write about communication within your favourite sci-fi/fantasy story universe, please write to me and we can chat about it!

My Writing Process (Blog Hop)

Sue Archer 14 Comments

Talented writer and fellow blogger Andrew Knighton recently tagged me for a writing process blog hop. So of course I said yes! My hop post will probably be a bit different from the norm, since my personal writing is focused on blogging (for now) rather than traditional stories or novels. My day job involves a lot of business/technical writing and editing for a corporation. My blog gives me a chance to show off my creative side.

1. What am I currently working on?

I started Doorway Between Worlds four months ago. I write weekly tips about communication through the lens of sci-fi/fantasy. I also proofread for Editors’ Weekly, the official blog of the Editors’ Association of Canada.

At my day job, one of my current focus areas is writing online help that is useful, clear, and easily accessible. So I have been learning a lot about information architecture, user experience, and plain language. The plain language aspect is filtering into my blog, because I try to write posts that are readable for a wide audience. As someone who has spent years explaining technical concepts to the business side, I strongly support plain language and clear communication.

In the back of my mind are many story ideas. When I have more time to devote to writing, I’d like to explore them. These include ideas for a traditional epic fantasy story, a post-infrastructure collapse apocalypse story, and an adventure story about a family that saves the world.

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I am a big fan of Grammar Girl because she writes about grammar in an accessible and entertaining way. I wanted to take things one step further by writing communication tips in the form of stories. I have seen other people do this, but usually the story is limited to a few sample sentences with a lot of exposition in between. I am working towards fully integrating the information into the stories. I’d like the story metaphor to seamlessly reinforce the learning. I’m not there yet, but that’s my goal. Can I write fun stories about grammar that are just as entertaining as a traditional story? We’ll see…

3. Why do I write what I write?

I started my blog for a couple of different reasons. I wanted to share what I’ve learned about communication in a fun way, so that I could help others who are interested in this topic. I also wanted to start writing creatively again, because ever since high school, all my writing has been analytical. My dream as a child was to write a fantasy novel, and that hasn’t changed. But I’m out of practice. Writing this blog is helping me use those parts of my brain that have been sadly neglected.

4. How does my writing process work?

I use a form of writing prompt to come up with post ideas. I have two lists: a list of communication problems I would like to help people with, and a list of sci-fi/fantasy settings and concepts that I enjoy. Then I try to connect the two of them together.

Statue holding a stylus in front of a beautiful sunset at Piazza di Spagna in Rome, Italy

Do you feel this serene while writing? I wish I did!
(Image sourced from gnuckx at Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-2.0)

Sometimes I start with a problem, like the time I was trying to figure out how to write a story about apostrophes. This seemed impossible, until I thought about how nice it would be if someone could just take them away. And so Night of the Apostrophe Ninja was born. Other times there’s a concept I really want to write about, like vampires. What do vampires do? Suck the life from people. So then I ended up writing about how passive voice sucks the life from sentences in Tale of a Sentence Vampire Hunter.

Once I have a basic idea, I let it kick around in my head for a couple of days. (My best thinking times happen while I am commuting, out walking, or, unfortunately, trying to get to sleep.) I typically write the first draft in one shot. I let it sit for a day and come back to edit it before posting. I used to spend a lot more time editing. I’m starting to get used to the blogosphere, where speed is more important than perfection.

5. Tag three other writers for the blog hop

A lot of writers I follow have already been through this blog hop, so this is a tough one. There are three writers I admire who have a knack for humour in their posts. I’d love to find out more about how they write:

Celine Jeanjean

Brenna Layne

Shelley Sackier

Ladies, if you would rather not blog hop, I understand. Feel free to post a link in the comments below to one of your favourite posts so I can share your greatness!

And finally…N J Magas has already done this blog hop, but I wanted to share her fantastically funny post: In the Back Abyss Without a Light or My Writing Process.

Thanks for reading!

DBW Receives the Liebster Award!

Sue Archer 20 Comments

This week my blog was nominated for a Liebster Award. For those of you who may not be familiar with it, it’s an award that brings attention to smaller blogs liked by fellow bloggers. If you’d like to check out the origins of this award, I found a great post on it here.

Liebster Award

Eva from In the Garden of Eva nominated me for this award. Eva blogs about her career as a writer and makes fun observations about life and writing. Thanks so much for the nomination, Eva!

The rules for accepting this award keep changing over time. Here’s what they are today:

1. List 11 random facts about myself.
2. Answer 11 questions from the blogger who nominated me.
3. Nominate 11 more blogs who have less than 200 followers and let them know they’ve been nominated.
4. Post 11 new questions for those bloggers to answer (if they wish to accept the award—it’s completely optional).

Since this is bound to be a longer post, I am going to start with my nominations so I can highlight some great blogs. If you’re still with me after that, you are welcome to read All About Me!

I’m sticking with the spirit of the award by nominating blogs I have followed for a while that have a relatively small audience (under 300 followers) and have consistently posted great content. I’m new to the world of blogging, so I only have six of these blogs to nominate. To make up the difference, I’d like to highlight five other blogs that have too many followers to be nominated but are great sources of writing tips.

And the nominees are…

Andrew Knighton Writes – Andrew writes sci-fi/fantasy/steampunk fiction and pens thoughtful posts about the writing process, films, and publishing. He is a fellow Joss Whedon fan.

Brenna Layne – Brenna is a writer of YA fantasy fiction. I love the writing style of her posts, which cover a variety of personal and writing-related topics.

Diary of an Aspiring Writer – N J Magas is a writer of speculative fiction who wrote a great interactive A-Z series in April on favourite authors.

I Can’t Possibly Be Wrong All the Time – If you love Game of Thrones, then you definitely have to check out Pat’s blog. ‘Nuff said.

Writeaway – Joanne is a fantasy writer who recently published a post on self-doubt that completely blew me away.

Writing, Reading, and the Pursuit of Dreams – Lori is a reader and writer of fantasy who shares my love of The Princess Bride and wrote a fantastic A-Z series on favourite fictional characters.

11 Questions for the Nominees to Answer (should they choose to participate):

1. What’s the weirdest job you’ve ever had?
2. What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year?
3. What do you enjoy most about blogging?
4. What do you do when you’re having writers’ block?
5. Why do you like the fantasy/science fiction genre?
6. If you could meet anyone you wanted, who would it be?
7. Introvert or extrovert?
8. Fill in the blank: “Writing is like _____________.”
9. Who or what inspires you?
10. Why should people read and follow your blog?
11. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

And here are five blogs that provide helpful writing tips (among other things):

Apoplectic Apostrophes

Change It Up Editing

Creative Writing with the Crimson League

Melissa Janda – A Time to Write

Write Through It

Thank you to everyone who has read and commented on my blog so far. I wish I could nominate all of you! And now, what you’ve been waiting for…(maybe)…All About Me!

11 Random Facts About Myself

1. I hate rhubarb.
2. I have always wanted to learn how to play the drums.
3. My favourite dessert is a Nanaimo bar.
4. My first major purchase was a typewriter (at age 8) because I wanted to write stories.
5. I am turning 40 this year, and I am still waiting to grow up.
6. I like to collect stones from the beach, when I actually get a chance to go there.
7. I am a huge Joss Whedon fan.
8. If I could have any superpower I wanted, I would pick flying.
9. I love to dance.
10. I once won a contest by singing “Let it Be” (I won theatre tickets).
11. I’m an introvert, so I don’t like talking about myself. Yay, it’s over! Oh, wait…

Answering 11 Questions

1. What’s the weirdest job you’ve ever had?

Selling those fun neon glowing bracelets and necklaces during concerts at a theme park. We got pulled out of the MC Hammer concert because it was too crowded. Go figure.

2. What’s the best book you’ve read in the past year?

It’s hard to pick—I read so many books! I loved Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings. I recommend Sanderson for anyone who loves epic fantasy and detailed world-building. In non-fiction, I recently read Your Network is Your Net Worth by Porter Gale. Unlike the usual boring business books, this one was very helpful and actually inspired me to take notes.

3. What do you enjoy most about blogging?

The community of people I have met here. I love the conversations and the thoughts that everyone is sharing.

4. What do you do when you’re having writers’ block?

I go for a walk to clear my head. I have the best ideas when I am moving around!

5. What’s the weirdest/funniest comment you’ve ever received on your blog?

My blog hasn’t been around that long, so I can’t say that I’ve received any weird comments. The nicest comment I have received so far was from a reader who said that my posts could help her ESL students. I was thrilled to hear it!

6. What’s the best writers conference you’ve ever been to? (And if you’ve never been to one, what conference have you heard good things about?)

I haven’t been to a writer’s conference. I belong to the EAC (Editors’ Association of Canada), and I am looking forward to their annual conference in June. The EAC provides lots of great seminars on writing and editing topics.

7. What’s your Meyer’s Briggs Personality Type?

I’ve done this one a few times, and I keep coming out as INTJ. According to Wikipedia, that means I “possess the unusual trait of combining imagination and reliability.” Sounds good for a blog writer. I’ll take it!

8. Fill in the blank: “writing is like _____________.”

playing the piano. You need to pull everything together into a coherent whole, and if you’re doing it well, you find that zone of contentment.

9. Who is your dream literary agent?

I’m not looking for an agent, but if I needed one, I’d want someone who always had my back, truly believed in my writing, negotiated like a champ, and coached me through the whole process.

10. Why should people read and follow your blog?

I started this blog because I believed that people like to learn about communication, but are often turned off because they are intimidated by rules or bored with how ideas are presented. This is why I added in the sci-fi/fantasy slant on things. Anyone who wants to master grammar, build better relationships, speak with confidence, or write well will hopefully find some fun and useful tips in this blog!

11. If you died tomorrow, what would you miss most about your life?

Hugs. Lots of hugs from my family. You can never have enough hugs.

Thanks, everyone! Now, off to work on my next post…