JamesSavik

There is not as much caramel goodness in currency.

My Halloween smorgasbord will be 100,000 Dollar Bars, Snickers and Almond Joy. It's a win-win. The little spooks will enjoy it, and I'll get the leftovers.

My bad knee gives me a proclivity not to run, I may have it scoped and see if that helps.

MIxedupeverything - Australia's Got Talent, 2016 Same band, 2020...

Notice how their parent network's ratings are tanking and some of the biggest shills are fading away... good riddance.

I suggest a 4th definition: 4. A really crappy audiobook title by Audible. Q: Did you fall for that crap fest that was being promoted by Audible this month? A: Yeah. It was Aubade.

Why do we dread spiders?

Cassandras are never popular and are often fired or shunned. However, bad news is never improved by ignoring it.

Marked safe from squirrels.

'Tis the season for Golden Garden Spiders. This lady is having a nice moth on the rare side.

Safe spaces and curbs on free speech on college campuses only serve to infantilize students rather than mature them and broaden their horizons.

While I enjoy a good prompt, not every one speaks to me. For instance, the latest anthology Anniversary I couldn't do anything with worthy of GA. I can bang out something half-assed, but I'll never want to. This sounds like fun, but even when we post prompts, I can't always come up with something for every one. It's best to pick one that sparks a good idea, than try to force it. You never know when this jack hole is going to show up. Confidentially speaking, not all his ideas are that great.

Sometimes I'm demean. Other times I'm desweet. You never deknow.

I met an alfalfa male at the gym the other day. He was snickering at me and I asked, what? Dude, you're like old. Yeah, and you are worthless and weak, but I'm not ragging you about it.

Why am I always struck with a paroxysm of creativity at 2am? I must be stuck at the very end of the good idea fairies delivery route.

I put the pro in procrastination.

Reading and writing in English is fraught with tricks, traps and pitfalls. I suggest we collect the fun ones here. I'll go first:

This is a pet peeve of mine. Too many people write teen and YA character dialogue and inner thoughts as if they're hard bitten forty-year-olds. It doesn't ring true. I've noticed myself doing it and have figuratively slapped my hand numerous times for it. If there is a reason for a character to sound like that, fine. For instance, I knew a kid whose Dad was an NCO in the Philippines back during the late seventies, early eighties. He grew up over there and saw a few things. With him, it would be believable. Not so much from your average oversexed Nifty reader teen from the burbs. This might not be the thread for it, but if hit my not funny bone and I had to bark.

There was an old hermit named Dave Who would watch CNN prognosticate in his cave Rather than deal with the aggravation Of their constant ego masterbation He unplugged the idiot box and his sanity he saved.

@AC Benus I actually avoid using real names of people and places in fiction, except for historic figures and events. For instance, in my story The Company, Ronald Reagan, Chernobyl and a few cities/towns are mentioned, but only to nail down the time frame (mid-eighties), current events and geographic setting. Names of people, places and things are one of the more fun things you get to do in writing. There was a politician in the eighties I absolutely detested. He's going to reappear with the same hypocrisy, same two faced lying, and same hick sounding accent under a new name. You'll probably recognize him if you followed politics in the eighties. This way, I get to spit in his eye without getting sued.

As I write sci-fi, I have can fun with this. Humans being human are going to recycle names from the home world. That neatly explains where the planet names New Tuscany and New Britain came from. Of course there are others like Evergreen, a jungle world, Pacifica, an ocean world and, Stonegarden, a mineralogists' playground. Don't think too hard about place names. They don't have to be brilliant. They don't have to tell you much other than it is a specific place. You can do more with place names, but that's up to you and how you want to proceed. The rest you can flesh out with description and even dialogue, like: "What's the name of this place, Gunny?" "This little garden spot moon's name is KV-426c." "It certainly doesn't look like much from orbit. The whole place is covered in dry ice. It's a snowball. What's the mission?" "There's a science station down there we've lost contact with. We're supposed to drop, see if anyone is home and access the situation." "Another glorious day in the Corp."

I view my upcoming chiropractors visit with trepidation. He makes my spine snap, crackle and pop.