by DianneSalerni | Aug 6, 2010 | writing
I was recently part of a (heated) online discussion about dialogue tags. I am going to leave out all names and even the name of the discussion forum, but it boils down to this:Writer A asked Writer B to give feedback on her work. Writer B’s feedback suggested that...
by DianneSalerni | Aug 4, 2010 | writing
Today, while the Salerni family enjoys their first day at Universal Studios, I bring you an unprecedented guest post from Dread Daughter #1 — a young lady unafraid to confess her writing sins in front of the blogosphere and her parents, apparently confident that...
by DianneSalerni | Jul 28, 2010 | writing
William Faulkner said, “Kill your darlings.”It is usually assumed that Faulkner was talking about killing off favorite characters or even just making their lives miserable. In fact, he was also referring to the necessity of cutting scenes/dialogues/characters that the...
by DianneSalerni | Jul 23, 2010 | pets, Sorcia, The Practice Room, writing
This was a week absolutely filled with animal nonsense. Allow me to elaborate.1. Our dog Sorcia met her “cousin” Pumpkin when my sister’s family came for a visit from Kansas. Our dog was a little over-excited – like a giant, 80 pound toddler who gets really wound up...
by DianneSalerni | Jul 21, 2010 | writing
How many writers out there can relate to the following scenario:You’re sitting at a family barbecue, and everybody is chatting companionably. People ask you how old your children are and how they are doing in school. You ask questions about Uncle Henry, and they ask...
by DianneSalerni | Jul 14, 2010 | Fox sisters, Maggie Fox, We Hear the Dead, writing
Last week, I received an unexpected message on Facebook from a descendant of the Fox sisters! This lady, who lives in a neighboring county of PA (and whom I hope to meet up with this summer) is a great-great-(great?)-grandniece of Maggie and Kate Fox.This is really...
