The Writer's Mailbag: Installment 187

Bill

So, there's a new 'boss' in the house? I bet that's what it seems like at times, but they are great fun to have around.

I've been trying Grammarly recently on my phone (that's my primary writing device, I only really use the laptop to 'cut and paste' when I'm putting things together for HP or another site) and while it really is a help, there are limitations to the app (and nay other app for that matter).

It won't pick up on speech idioms that we use, and often the spelling is the American version, most Brits don't mind that, but some of the older ones find it a little 'grating' at times.

If you can handle those things, then the apps are a good way to go, but be aware of their limitations.

Glad your spring has finally arrived by now.

Lawrence

Hi bill! Now I'm finally somewhere that has internet so am trying some catch-up. I nearly said somewhere civilised but I've learnt that is not necessarily the case!

As for Grammarly, I've never used it & you know that I totally agree with you regarding the lowering of standards.

My current travels are teaching me that this is happening the world over but they have also taught me that there are some wonderful people about and that kindness and love show through and beat the negativity which can swallow up some people.

30 odd degrees here, near the sea and with friends & family - who could ask for more?

May you have a thunderingly terrific Tuesday, bill (not literally!).

Ann

PS Maggie May looks and sounds wonderful - great name!

Playing catch up is working out well for me.. I get to enjoy the mailbag at my leisure.. enjoy the dog.. and once again.... a good share

I don't know why I missed this one. Maybe, it was when family was here with us. The time difference also accounts for it. I am glad I came here as this is exactly what I need to know. I know in theory that I need to be in touch with my readers but the how is not known to me. Your response to Alisha is just what I need.

You are right about the crap so I have told myself that from now on, am not going to add to more crap online. I am practicing diligence and not be a lazy writer.

I think it's government's labor regulations in those countries that we should look at. If western countries get away with polluting the planet with industrial and toxic waste---because profit is above everything else, then why ask questions about Walmart's using kids for labor?

Are those kids being "forced" to work? And, if the nature of that job is beyond their abilities, why would Walmart hire them? Here in the western countries people beyond retirement age are allowed to work with their reduced capacity, often missing work for health reasons, and letting them go is called "age discrimination".

On the other hand, Walmart is giving you lower prices and so showing some humanness there, which is not to be seen at those more greedy stores that are charging you more for the same product. We have a Walmart here in our neighborhood, and smart folks will shop there, not caring about the politics which is rotten in every country.

I went in a Walmart once. I was probably about twenty years old and my girlfriend at the time wanted to buy something from there. I couldn't stop her from going so, I went too. While she was looking for what she wanted to buy I kept approaching customers and talking to them about Walmart's use of child labour in South-east Asia. After I stopped a few customers and spoke to them, my girlfriend looked at me all flustered and said: "Okay we're going! You're so embarrassing!!" Haha!! I still remember the look on her face. She actually did look embarrassed. I was happy though: I was doing what I had to do (my duty) in such circumstance lol

Well, stay sane and away from Walmart - cheers!

Hey, my friend, I always heard it "lipstick on a pig," but a pig in calico is still a pig.

Excellent installment! Right from the opening paragraph till the end, you have shared some wise words of wisdom.

It’s good to know that Maggie is giving you company on walks. Good for physical and mental fitness.

Regarding Mary’s question—I don’t think it is wise to be too much dependent on apps and tools. Your answer to the question is much appreciated.

Thanks for sharing this wonderful installment!

"Writing should be emotional" - I'll take it a step further and say: Life is emotional. Writing is just a way of putting our emotions on "paper" to convey them to others. Or, perhaps to just vent-off, like You said lol (I do have journal entries myself so, I know the deal.)

"People flock to WalMart to buy a $25 cabinet made of particle board and glue." - I have never spent a penny at a Wall-mart. A corporation known to have used child labour in South-east Asia will get nada from me.

"How-to articles are popular." - I worked at a small publishing house, here in Toronto, over fifteen years ago. Even then, the publishers were telling me that that is what sells best: how to books and new age stuff. I'm not much into either of those so, I prefer to write for fun, or whatever lol : )

Enjoyed your piece, as always - cheers!

You answered the questions directly and with great interest.

I love Grammarly. I rarely use it but when I do I love it.

I like your answer to Alisha. I have to live in my character's shoes, even the villains. If your writing can connect to your own soul, it will connect with other. Hemminway's quote about writing, which I know you've heard is that writing is opening and artery and bleeding (paraphrase). I've wept while writing, I've laughed, I've been angry, not at myself, but at my characters.

Hi, Bill, I'm still not getting notifications and HP is telling me that it's my settings. Huh? How do you give it more gas when the throttle is wide open? Down to important business: Maggie is so cute, and I'm glad she's making you happy.

I don't use Grammarly, but the grammar checker in Word has saved my tush a time or two even as an editor. Maybe I didn't notice that "somebody had a steak in the business" and it wasn't a restaurant, but somebody would have had a beef with my editing. The spell checker won't catch it, but that little green squiggle brings my attention to a halt. I think we can use all the tools we can get. A writer is born then trained to hone his skills. Some people just can't be made into writers.

Hey Bill.

As a long-time user of Grammarly, I agree that it is a tool. I use it to catch any spelling or grammatical errors I have missed during the 3rd or 23rd read through. What I like best about it is when it finds an error, there is usually a short explanation why it's an error and suggests how to fix it. But that doesn't mean Grammarly has the last say. Grammarly doesn't understand that when you're writing fiction, sometimes you gotta break the rules in order to get the point across. Hence, if Grammarly's suggestion doesn't work for me, I leave it the way it is. It's my call.

As you say, it is a tool. Tools are there to help you, not dictate to you.

Maggie's adorable. How big do you expect she'll be?

Another mailbag with sound advice. Hope you're having a great new week.

Hi Bill. Another great week for the mailbag. As I write this I am listening to the video on "How to write and make money from HubPages", which I have never seen. Interesting,

There is nothing better than a puppy to get you to get outside and walk, she's beautiful. Have a great week.

I agree with you on some of these articles that are self published. I love to read, and in my quest to find something that I can afford, that I have not read recently, I have read a lot of questionable stories. Most of them do not get completely read. I am also a bit of a stickler when I read, and if I find too many spelling booboos I quit reading. I can read your writing, because you do not make many writing booboos. You also write interesting books, even though I do not comment much any more, I do read them. I know I use too many commas at times and I try to slow that down. I have been in a dark place for awhile now, and I am slowly working my way out of it. When I get further out, I will go back to writing again. I will ask you to read when I do.

This edition of the mailbag is useful, as always, but I also enjoyed it because of the lovely photo of Maggie May. She's a beautiful dog.

I might have laughed a little too hard during the Grammarly section... and I must say it's a great relief to know that I am not the only one with articles just sitting unpublished. Enjoy your walk!

Bill, I've got books years old that I never even tried to publish, but I keep writing. My only reaction to Eric's question was a smile. I'm also with you on believing in grammar as I learned it; at least my readers can guess my age if they have different rules. Who could improve on good grammar?

As much as I love people, they just can't seem to compare to a dog friend to me. They're just better at companionship than we are, lol.

Great Mailbag.

Another great mailbag. I have never used Grammarly or anything similar. I guess I am scared I would become lazy, lol.

Thank you for your thoughts on Grammarly. I use the free version, but I must say, it wants to put a hyphen in most sentences.

I tend to be careful after once writing a business letter and spellcheck autocorrected my closing. I wanted to end the letter saying 'sorry for the inconvenience'. After spellcheck, 'sorry for the incontinence'. LOL

Luckily I caught this on a proofread and the whole office had a laugh.

Love reading about Maggie. I remember telling you once how important it was to enjoy a little 'soul' time outdoors! I am so glad that Maggie is teaching you that lesson.

I am one of those lazy writers that rely on Grammarly to keep me in check and quite honestly I am grateful that I have it.

You have a terrific week Billy

I have to admit, I am curious about your unpublished venting to your Republican friends.....

What a sweet and charming first intro. Never mind bro, if and when I see you, I 'll offer you that date (Lol).

A very cute dog and yes, I saw the connections even before you started mentioning them. Alas! They scare me. I feel that they will take so much of my precious time ... divert my attention.

I'm also with Eric. I have so much stuff that I won't use! My poetry book will be called Blossoms of The Heart and as such I will fill it with only blossoms. The second may be called Mixed Blessings, so then I can add the mundane. But the jokes, the fun, the depressive ... who knows what I'll do with them. Let them be found 50 years after I'm gone. Ha ha.

When I think of you, I think 'passion' and I did read a non-passionate piece recently, which immediately reminded me of you. I wanted to suggest trying all the different things you do to Alisha, so that the passion will eventually come. Some books are so slow and so dull!!

Hey, Bro. I made $53.00 today. My first payment on HP. Awesome! (smile) Feels great! Why don't I take you and Bev for breakfast at the Ritz in Paris? (chuckle)

13 to go for another milestone and 13 days to my 66th Soul's Day. Cool! God speed!!

Everyone wants to get rich quick, but rich and quick are not in the HP wheelhouse. Steady progress over time is more like it. Maggie is absolutely lovely and I’m glad she and you are enjoying each other. Still got that kitty?

Hi Bill - Five miles a day - in the snow. That Maggie is at least good for a break. Oh, cash and HP, that is so funny, though there are rumors that people do make a bit.

You're welcome Bill. Here's a link to it on Amazon for you and the other hubbers: https://www.amazon.com/Emotion-Thesaurus-Writers-C... There's a whole series on it. I would have to get the rest someday.

Good questions and answers as usual from you Bill. Your Maggie is a little cutie and I'm glad that she is bringing much joy (and exercise!) into your life. We had to have our Skippy euthanized just prior to Christmas. Now we only have our inside cat Peaches. We miss our little guy!

You are correct in that walking dogs becomes a very social activity.

Thanks for your humor. This Monday is killing me, surrounded by grumpy, impatient people. I'd much rather be curled up on the couch at home with a good book! You must be the only man on Earth who can manage to speak of wanting "babes" to pet you without sounding like a total creep. As for your advice this week- it's great , as always.

Another mailbag filled with good questions and answers, Bill.

Maggie seems to be good for your mental and physical health. My dogs keep me busy and give me frequent reasons to get up from my chair and walk around.

A great mailbag as always.

Eric's question looked somewhat funny, but it is a reasonable and apt question needing some support. There can be lots of reasons to unpublish and keep them piling. I agree with that tendency.

I use Grammarly app, but am not lazy to allow it command my writing ability. I use it as a reminder of my typos. Even now, it is scrolling there over this comment.

Nice to see your Maggie May giving you company and keeping you fit. Thanks for this wonderful mailbag.

First off, love the Maggie updates! I have the same routine with our dog. Otherwise, I'd just keep on writing (or whatever).

Re: Grammarly. Admittedly, I don't use Grammarly either. I think I have it ingrained enough to not need it. But I guess my hesitation in using it is the same reason I don't rely on Microsoft Word's grammar and spell checking functions: It's not always reliable and doesn't take the vernacular into account, especially for specialty markets where usage may vary from the standard. These tools should always supplement, not substitute, a good editor or thorough self editing process.

Re: Connecting. Agreed, even nonfiction for business, like I write, needs to strike an emotional chord. Just finished a short eBook that discusses selling frustrations. I've been there, done that which helps me write to my readers' pain.

Have a great week!

Billy...one more mail from the mail bag. Great job

Great mailbag Bill. As for Grammarly, it tends to be inaccurate sometimes. But I do use it the most. As for Alisha's "disconnection" comments she gets from her editors, I've gotten the same thing from agents. My advice to her and other hubber writers are to consider getting the Emotion Thesaurus for starters. This would help her add emotional depth to her writing.She needs to have her character "do something" then let it happen to her. Make her proactive as well. I've had an editor friend help me revise my opening for Venom one last time and made it more "active" than my one I had last fall. I'm hoping this would help me lasso more agent requests to fix the disconnection issue. Those are my two cents. :-)

Bill, I'm so happy that you have Maggie. It sounds as though she is doing her best to keep you fit which means you will be with us for a long, long time. That, my friend, is a great thing to think of today. Just imagine when she is no longer a puppy, all the adventures the two of you will have.

Happy Monday Bill! I can totally relate with you about Maggie. We got a rescue dog last year and Betty has been the joy of our lives! She forced me to go out for walks and enjoy the scenery while she explored every log, squirrel and rock she could find...a dog's pure joy and enthusiasm for absolutely everything they see and do--well, its a good reminder that life is blessing!

Have a great and productive week!

Hi Bill---When I first started at HP some over 2 years ago, I got fooled by the mention of "original material" as a must. Then, some 200 articles later---in which I followed that advice out of a writer's integrity which hates the idea of plagiarism---I am still having a good laugh about that "originality".

Namely, anybody can make a name at HP by copying recipes, borrowing some "how-to" books from library and re-wording those advices.

Now, don't take me wrong, we are both old enough not to continue with something if it would piss us off---I am not "disappointed", writing is still fun and giving us an opportunity to literary express ourselves, not to forget getting some cyber-friends.

But, reading your advice about writing/not writing for money at HP I got inspired to come up with these few words. Sorry, old buddy, for the size of this comment, I just can't express what I think in a line or two. Comes with age, I guess, LOL.

Are you suggesting that not everyone reads all of your mailbags? I even read most of the comments. I just cannot get Gramerly. Heck, I don't even like spelcheck.

5 miles is a lot everyday. At least you are not jogging.

That was a dangerous Mailbag for me to read, Bill, because it made me want to get a puppy. We already have an older dog so that's not happening. But I love the puppy time so much and it goes by so fast. Maggie is so cute. Enjoy!