Word of the Day...

[blunthead]

dystopia ((ˌ)dis-ˈtō-pē-ə) noun, an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives.

If you happen to be a science fiction fan, it's natural that you should want to write science fiction (and the more sf you've read, the less likely it is that you'll simply revisit the field's well-mined conventions, such as space opera and dystopian satire).

[blunthead]

vulgate (ˈvəl-ˌgāt, -gət) noun, a commonly accepted text or reading; the speech of the common people and especially of uneducated people.

deign (ˈdān) verb, to condescend reluctantly and with a strong sense of the affront to one's superiority that is involved; to condescend to give or offer.

A critical assumption is sometimes made that we have access to some musical vulgate that other (and often better) writers either cannot find or will not deign to use.

[blunthead]

tout noun, one who gives tips or solicits bets on a racehorse.

When the reader hears strong echoes of his or her own life and beliefs, he or she is apt to become more invested in the story. I'd argue that it's impossible to make this sort of connection in a premeditated way, gauging the market like a racetrack tout with a hot tip.

[blunthead]

cant [kant] noun, insincere, especially conventional expressions of enthusiasm for high ideals, goodness, or piety; the private language of the underworld; the phraseology peculiar to a particular class, party, profession, etc.

Using plainspun humor as a brilliant counterpoint and never substituting cant for story, he sketches a world of Darwinian struggle where all the savages wear three-piece suits.

[blunthead]

hiatus (hī-ˈā-təs) noun, a break in or as if in a material object; a gap or passage in an anatomical part or organ.

A big woman and solid all the way through; she is an absence of hiatus.

[blunthead]

gambol (ˈgam-bəl) verb, to skip about in play.

And the cartoons dancing across the walls--gossip-column caricatures of downtown political hustlers, newsmen who had long since retired or drunk themselves to death, celebrities you couldn't quite recognize--still gamboled all the way to the ceiling.

[Chuggs]

Strange...and weird...and goofy...

[Chuggs]

Oh yeah, I just thought of one more word. One that is very appropriate for today. Friday

[blunthead]

gallumph [guh-luhmf] verb, to move along heavily and clumsily.

Ostermeyer is a long and gallumphing name.

[Chuggs]

Irritated....cause I WANT to get back to writing my book (almost finished!) but I NEED to do housework...crappy but happy! That would also mean that I have to get off of the board for a while...which if I'm writing is ok, but for housework???? Hmmmm....oh well...gotta do what I gotta do!