Our Guest, Lovesamy, Tells All

Ah, an apostrophe... Betty single-handedly shows the way one mini-character can change the meaning of writing.

Dear lin,

Cogburn would take offense if you called his character mini. He had a large character and as chickens go, he was one of a kind, gone as he is.

I wonder what you mean about this single handedness. It has always taken me two hands to do anything.

My other question is, "What do you mean by the "meaning of writing?"

Loves a mystery,
I would love to be there. Alas! I must work for money.

Love,
Betty

What I meant was, You take

"Loves a mystery" meaning a guy who likes reading whodunnits, and make it "Love's a mystery" by simply adding one tiny character--an apostrophe--and thus change the whole meaning.

Dear lin,
I see what you mean.
Love is a mystery to me. I do love a mystery. I want to say that I never said I was a writer. I only said I was an author. I mean that I wrote some stuff and therefore I am the author of it.

All of the other people on this (and many other message boards) are writers. They do that because they develop a story in their mind and put it down onto paper, send it off for someone's approval and hope to be published and get some money thereby. They know the rules of punctuation and they spell very well.

On the other hand, to defend myself,

If I were never (and it looks like that will be) famous, I will have had the joy to write little stories in the middle of the night, and my characters have been real people and kept me sane even in the daytime.

I like your honesty very much.

Love,
Betty

lovesamy wrote:

Thanks for the explanation Ms. Connaway. I can assure you that I don't have the time or energy to be a troll. Although one of my future novels is about a group of Internet trolls so ... hmm ...

Just kidding!

(using this emoticon because I think it is cool)

Fascinating. Unfortunately, we can't have guests posting anymore because of spamming. You were lucky. You were allowed to converse with Dick without having to join the forum. I'm sure that you appreciated it and would not abuse my hospitality.

This was a very interesting read, cool to see the persective of someone who attended Bouchercon. I am considering going to that this year. It is in San Francisco, a little far away, but I am thisclose to convincing my significant other to join me and make it a vacation. Hopefully a few more homemade meals and he'll say yes, lol!

I looked up the other conference mentioned and that looks a little intimidating with all the big names attending. Plus I don't think my work in progess falls into the thriller category.

I thought I recognized the name of Dick Stodghill, and now I know where I know that name from. My father was a devoted reader of both the Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen mystery magazines, and I was the lucky recipient of his hand-me-downs. I will have to go back through the old issues and look for his stories.

Has anyone else here gone to any writers conferences? If so, which ones and what do you recommend? Did you get anything out of them?

Thanks everyone in advance!

Ruby

Ruby,

I am so enjoying your posts. To me, this is what this forum is all about, encouraging, sharing experiences.

Thanks for posting. I have not gone to writer's conferences in many years, but found them very inspiring and exciting.

Carol

Thanks Carol! If I do attend I wil be happy to share my experiences and what I have learned. This will be my first big conference, even more exciting because I will get to see Frisco! I have never been west so it will be a new experience on many levels.

And aside from a trip to London many years ago, my second ever plane ride. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Ruby