Lauren Dawes : September 2013

Writing Slumps: they sound fun, but...

www.readybuzz.com

...My name is Lauren and I have a problem. <sighs, staring longingly at the keyboard of my computer> It's been 52 days since my last surge of inspiration. I've given into procrastination too many times to count, and I need help...

That's why I'd say if there was an AA-type program for what I'm going through right now. WRITER'S BLOCK. It's the suckiest thing that ever sucked, and right now, I'm under its spell. So, what to do? I know I should be writing. I have not only one, but TWO books planned out and ready to go, but neither the drive, nor the inclination, to write.

pro·crasti·nation n.

The act of procrastinating; putting off or delaying or deferring an action to a later time.

I'm an author (at least part time). I should be writing. I should be dreaming about writing while I'm busy at work. I should be thinking about 24/7, but the unfortunate reality is that I'm not. Perhaps I've used up all my creative energy for this year - pretty disappointing considering I've only written two books, and it's only September.

I need to justify only working casually. I need to be writing. So, what to do? If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them! In the meantime, I'm throwing myself into reading and reviewing more, and branching out by getting involved in blog tours with an entirely new group of people.

I must admit, I really like reviewing. I had to start another blog, something separate from this one where I could review Contemporary Romance books and not feel silly posting them onto a blog clearly focusing on violence and the fantasy genre. With that in mind, I started up my new blog Between the Lines to help get over the writer's block.

I really hope it works. I'm going a little crazy knowing that I should be producing work when I'm not. I also started designing more and more swag on Photoshop, finding that creative outlet somewhat better than the drowning black abyss of writer's block. <sigh> Wish me luck, I guess...

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I think I may have been rambling in this one, but I swear it's about Street Teams

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Muse??! Where are you??

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American English v.s. British English: The Ludicrously Ludicrous

Hello fellow Junkies,

As you may know, I’m an Australian author, which means that I would—naturally—use British English (BrE) spelling conventions. But I discovered that a lot of my readership are actually American and that got me thinking.

Before this light-bulb moment, I admittedly used some American English (AmE) spelling conventions in my books, and that was simply for the aesthetic value. I finally made my decision to actively start using AmE spelling when writing Dark Deceit, after all the book was set in Boston, so why not have American spelling?

That was where things got a little tricky. It was all well and good to say that I was going to use AmE, but I had no idea there were so many little rules and tricks I had to know.

The first, and major one, is the use of ‘u’ in BrE in words like colour, behaviour, neighbour, neighbourhood, flavour, colour, honour, rumour, labour and favour just to name a few.

Another is the past tense forms of some words. In AmE, it’s sneaked not snuck, drug not dragged, dove not doved, and gotten rather than got.

Then it’s the double consonants: dialed rather than dialled, traveled rather than travelled and my all-time favourite/favorite and most prolific in Dark Deceit: worshiped…with one ‘p’. It still looks really strange to me.

Spelling differences also came up. Story in place of storey when talking about a multi-level building, tire and tyre, plow rather than plough, fetus rather than foetus, center in place of centre, pried instead of prised and cozy v.s. cosy.

I'm kind of ignoring the 's' v.s. 'z' spelling differences, but some that I encountered included:

organise/organize

recognise/recognize

realise/realize

agonised/agonized

apologise/apologize

finalise/finalize

And lastly, we have completely different words for things. Here we have…

The 'hood' (AmE) is pictured here, not the 'bonnet' (BrE)

This is a 'trunk' (AmE), whereas in BrE, it's a 'boot'

The back of this truck is called a 'bed' in AmE, but a 'tray' in BrE/Australian English

So, that's where I'll leave my little mystifying rant about the differences between British and American English spelling. I don't want to point the finger at anyone in particular for this, but Noah Webster, I blame you.

P.S. For a really extensive list of spelling difference, click here