The Writer's Mailbag: Installment 277

Bill

This week's reminiscing brought a smile to my face, and a memory of when someone tried to play a trick on me that backfired in spectacular fashion.

See, I know I'm pretty diligent in what I do, but I just can't stand it when people play on that and use it so they can be lazy.

A few years ago I was working as a street cleaner and one night we had a few streets to pick the leaves up from, I had a hand held blower and the other guy had the mechanical sweeper.

He was supposed to be in charge, but he was known as being lazy. He told me to get the leaves picked up with the blower (while he went for a sleep) but I knew he'd been told to get me to blow them into the middle of the road and then get them picked up with the sweeper.

When he came back three hours later I told him they were in the middle of the road waiting for him to get on with it, our supervisor knew what I'd done and was actually laughing with me that the other guy got taught the lesson, he never did it again!

John, I have to agree with you. I was talking with my best friend the other day and she said that she likes some realism but both of us look at television and read books to get away from reality. I don't want real-life following me into my fantasies too!

It has to be believable enough to pull me in, but fantastic enough to let me live in the fantasy and escape the common.

The first book I purchased of Bill's and his first story that I read made me think about whether I wanted to use swearing or not. Bill's stories have them where they added a little life, real-life to the characters. I think basing book characters on real people helps with deciding who will swear and who will not swear.

All my characters are based on real people. I have yet to make up one from scratch. I have a story that I am working on right now where the character, the leading character is based on George W. Bush. I read his book and fell in love with how he was portrayed and made him into a character. I don't think I will take the cocain use from his youth into play.

Bill, I have been missing from the Mailbag for months! I even have not been to the blog because of a load of transcription projects! I hope to get back more often because I learn so much. I loved the part about you saying the cursing in writing is a person choice. I made the choice to exclude it in my writing about a year ago, but sometimes my characters want to say swear words!

Some times I want to say swear words. I don't do it as a practice, but I think them.

Anyway, and new hubber I follow had a question that I want to ask you because I did not feel I answered it well. I will post what I said and you can fix the rest, I believe.

"Ruby, I have toyed with the idea of making my own YouTube videos to put in the hubs. We have to be vigilant in updating out hubs because sources go dark and videos get pulled often. I am constantly finding broken links to info. I now keep a back-up of my sources. I have to do that, especially if I am using info from another hub. Writers get banned too often for me to rely on their work unless it is someone like Bill Holland or John. I go to blogs and other places to see if I can get more reliable info for references... Bill has a great forum for this. I am going to put the question to him."

Since I have written that, I know have a question about it and hope for guidance for both Ruby and me!

The question is: What can I do about videos I use from Youtube and references I link that disappear or should I worry about it at all?

I am quite late reading this mailbag, Bill, so I apologise. We call it Autumn here, not fall, but what I like most is the fallen leaves. While others are stressing about raking them up (or using blowers to move them) I see them as welcome mulch to thrown on the garden beds.

I use profanity in my writing if necessary, but don't make a habit of it. I remember seeing the movie "Dog Day Afternoon" starring Al Pacino, as a teenager and was totally appalled by the amount of profanity. It may have been based on true events, but I think the 'realism' was too much...the same goes for writing.

Happy Fall! Late to the Mailbag this week. Lots of stuff both business and personal going on. Catching up...

Re: WTF$%#(@) I honestly don't get offended by cursing. But I think it has to do with the intended effect. It's all in how you use it, as with any words. However, I think many writers just use it to be cool, tough, or edgy. Please! And though it doesn't bother me personally, I steer clear of it in my work so that the censor police (like on YouTube) don't ding me for not rating it as explicit or mature.

Well, gotta run. The past week or so has been absolutely beautiful fall weather here in Chicago. Cheers!

Hi Bill, hope all is well. It was another great Q&A Hub. All of the questions were interesting. I have another question about freelancing. If you ghostwrite articles for clients, how do you continue to build your portfolio to show your past work when you want to look for new clients? I could, of course, continue to write my own unpaid articles on my blog page, but what is the best way if someone asks for a portfolio of past articles written professionally? Any advice you could share would be most helpful. Thanks a ton and hope you have a great week.

It's always interesting to read your answers to questions that haven't been asked before. My favorite memories of Autumn are linked to harvest festivals and the gratitude for the food plants produced by the Earth. I remember taking produce to a church service around this time of year when I was a child. The contributions by many people made a colorful display at the front of the church.

Thank you Bill Waiting for more color, my friend. Angels are winging their way to you and yours ps

Thank you Bill Waiting for more color, my friend. Angels are winging their way to you and yours ps

What's this two-hand touch thing, Bill. Come on, Bill! We'd sneak into the high school football field and play tackle - yes, without pads. I'd come home covered with grass stain. You can imagine how that went, but they are good memories. Another good mailbag and I thank you for being here for us!

Another great read Bill and thanks for that. I liked the question of profanity, I think it's your personal choice as well what you want to do with your characters in the story. For me, I like to use daily routine of language in my characters as in real, we hear many people every day, some use good language but others aren't so nice in speaking, some like to abuse at each of their sentence, some are used to swear on God 1000 times a day.

So when I'm writing a story or novel, would definitely consider all of those.

And yes, fall has arrived, have written some on fall in 'my thought of the week' section on my website as well : www.nikkikhan.net.

It's not an advertisement, just mentioning!

When this season approaches, it really reminds me of my parents' home garden and those orange trees in the garden. The leaves of them used to start falling over and would cover all the green grass with yellow coloured leaves, I used to love it.

I used to sit with my mother in that garden everyday while having some afternoon snack, and my little cat 'Mano' used to play around under the orange trees.

Since then, fall is my favourite one, thanks for reminding all Bill.

Many Blessings my friend!

And yes, I loved the picture of Toby and Meggie, they are cuties.

Thanks for answering my questions and I loved the rest of the questions and answers. I can't remember if I answered the fall question before or not, but I loved walking to school alone and shuffling through piles of leaves, or walking under a tree while colored leaves danced and rained down upon me. I would stand in the middle of the sidewalk and whirl around in circles as if I was dancing with the falling leaves.

Bill,

I found this to be a nice relaxing-cozy sort of experience at the end of my day, reading over your readers' questions and your answers, and thinking a little about Fall. Seems to me that Fall was much more vibrant in its fragrances when I was younger. We lived on a farm, so that might be part of it. The scent of high bush cranberries would really take me back to my childhood, but I haven't smelled them for years. I breathed in the scent of some apples that a kind friend passed along for us, and they actually had that old-time-smell. Coming in from outside and smelling soup cooking on a chilly day, or sniffing that wet woodsy smell (we live on the Wet Coast) takes me back to long walks in the rain with my husband, before he was that.

Another great mailbag! And I have an answer to your question this week. Fall always stirs up memories of enjoying homemade applesauce at my grandparents' house. :) I never raked leaves as a kid, we just didn't have an issue with leaves in the yard. My grandfather had a huge crab apple tree that always made a mess though. Now that I'm an adult, one of my favorite things to do is rake up the leaves and jump in the piles. Well, sending you warm thoughts. It's cold here as well and most mornings, I pull out my heating pad and sit with it as I enjoy my hot coffee. We like to wait as long as possible to turn on the heat, and in truth, the coldest it's gotten at night is 40 degrees. After 90, it feels like Antarctica to me, though. haha! Have a wonderful week!

Fall signaled the beginning of so many wonderful indoor and outdoor adventures as I grew up in Virginia. Now fall come in late November if we are lucky. We do see an occasional tree b eautifully covered with vibrant orange or red or yellow leaves. Angels headed to you once again, Bill. ps

My favorite thing about the fall season was the colorful leaves when we lived in Wisconsin. They were glorious! We get a little color in certain trees and plants here in Houston, but not nearly as much as up north. My favorite thing about fall in Houston is that the blistering hot weather will soon abate. A small cold front is moving through this week which will get us out of the 90s for a time. Hooray!

I don't like to read books that are littered with profanity. I can tolerate it in films, but in books, it bothers me.

Regarding freelancing, when I was writing for a content mill, it was like dying a thousand deaths. I hated it.

Because I live close to the equator, I no longer have seasons. I miss the excitement of the run up to the fall and winter holidays. Have a great week.

Bill, I understand the reality of cussing, but even if the character is super-profane, I think it would be kind of the author to tone it down for readers who would be turned off by too much of it. Just an opinion.

On the other hand, I really like your philosophizing through Maggie or otherwise. That's another kind of reality. Thanks.

Just as there are still people who don’t curse (or don’t do so often) you could run into a book without it in there but it is a rare occurrence. Potty mouths abound.

Happy Monday Bill! We in MN are in full fall-mood. Leaves are at peak color, or getting close at least and we are enjoying decidedly fall temps. My favorite memories always skip to the end of the month, traipsing around in Halloween costumes--never knowing if we would have to wear a winter coat and boots or enjoy nice warm temps. But either way, it was always a favorite holiday for me as a child--free candy, hot apple cider..doesn't get better than that for a child.

Have a happy and productive week!

Bill, I really enjoyed this Mailbag today. Perhaps with the change in seasons, we're settling down to business. I personally detest profanity in books (and in real life). It makes one seem so dull-witted, as though they have a very limited vocabulary.

My landscape takes on a dramatically different look when Fall descends. I don't have a garden full of mums and asters (wish that I did), but I love the colors of the maples and blueberry bushes. Best of all is the wild cyclamen. They are EVERYWHERE--little pops of pink the color of sugar frosting roses on a cake.

I think we "quiet types" tend to be more reflective. I attended a meeting last week, and after a while, the moderator asked me why I wasn't saying anything. I replied that I came to learn and I feel that one can hear more when they close their mouths and let others do the talking.

Hi Bill. Fall like weather arrived here last week, but just as quickly it changed and has warmed up today. This is my favorite time of year and I have fond memories of playing football in the field behind the house we grew up in. I have always been fascinated with the different colors as the foliage changes, and to this day I still love leaf peeping at this time of year. Great mailbag, have a wonderful week.

Very happy to note that it's the 5th anniversary of your mail bag series. Congratulations !

Very unique and deep questions asked this time.

Just yesterday celebrated the 7th death anniversary of my wife with the annual rituals.

Hi, Bill, did you say that Maggie and Tobias are siblings? Is that literally or figuratively? What's with Maggie's longer curly hair and a sleek Tobias? But still, you make us love them both.

Little or no profanity in "To Kill a Mockingbird"? I think it was the times. My favorite book is "Gone With the Wind" and the only cuss word I remember in that book is when Rhett said, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!" Back then gentlemen didn't cuss around females. My dad didn't, but an ex-boyfriend said he had a potty mouth around other men. Too, I'm sure that ladies who never uttered a cuss word in polite society didn't say "oh, dear" if they dropped a heavy skillet on their foot either." LOL

It's a little cooler today but we are supposed to get the edge of that Rocky Mountain cold weather this week with our weather dropping into the 60s day and 40s nights. I'm sending my jackets and coats to the cleaners in preparation. Enjoy your cooler weather, my friend.

Fall is here in Toronto and back to boots and coats. This month is a sad one for me given that this was the month when my husband passed on last year so my memories are still on that. I know that what he really wants is for me to move on so I am doing that. Your philosophizing inspires me so keep it up. But what I admire most is you are clear about what you value and you live that.

Hello Bill - Just stopping by for a quick read. The mailbag is always interesting.

Bill, all my blessings to you. We will get Santa Anna weather soon and pray for no huge fires. But today in our desert it will go from 48 to near 90. Enough to make feet and concrete crack.

What is up with the concept that I love Maggie? You can make me love someone I have never met. Kudos dude.

Happy autumn Bill! I always miss the north this time of year. For many years I always found a reason to travel north in Oct. One of my best memories was a trio my sister and I took and we went horseback riding in the beautiful woods in NY. The autumn leaves were gorgeous.

Today's mailbag had some very interesting questions and I liked all your answers, of course. I look forward to Monday's mailbag as I always learn something or get some new ideas. Have a great week Bill.

Interesting question about usage of profanity. I personally feel that there is actually no need to use it in excess just to show reality. In India, there's a popular film maker whose movies are full of expletives in the name of reality and creativity. I am not comfortable watching his movies with my son and so are many others. Art cannot be used as an excuse to show just anything.