Daily Mayo

Craziness

Brenda — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 01:13:06 +0000

Hello everyone! I have had a truly crazy week this week. Our Internet was turned off on Thursday and only just now came back on. Next week I will be taking a working vacation to Colorado, so I will not post next week either. I hope everyone has a fun time until I return on the 13th!

Writing Tip: Other Readers

Brenda — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:16:16 +0000

One way to improve your writing is to have someone else read your writing and try to catch any areas that don’t make sense or have grammatical errors. The person you choose should be somewhat familiar with how good writing is supposed to look, but they don’t have to be professionals. This exchange of reading and writing is what often occurs at writing groups. These groups can be very helpful if you find a good one with a mix of published and unpublished writers. Even if you don’t have a group, a family member can be equally as helpful. A new prospective on the subject can always reveal areas that need improvement.

Review Site: The Burton Review

Brenda — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:27:08 +0000

The Burton Review is a fun site that reviews mostly historical fiction from periods such as the Tudor and Elizabethan periods. The set-up is similar to Daily Mayo, but the book topics are more narrow. This is an excellent site to visit if you’re interested in historical fiction. Since that is not my favorite genre, I will not review many historical novels. Check it out!

Review: Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett

Brenda — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 01:07:28 +0000

The Wintersmith book is the third in the Tiffany Aching series. I have read the first two, and I really enjoyed them as well. The difference between this series and the regular Discworld novels is that the story is in no way about Ank Morpork. There is also a set of little tiny blue people who are known as the Mac Nac Feegles.

In this particular story, 13 year old Tiffany gets the Wintersmith to fall in love with her because she accidentally dances with him during the dark morris dance. This dance is done to transition fall to winter. Throughout the story she must try to prevent the Wintersmith from giving the world an eternal winter, and she also has to learn about herself and the world.

I really like this series. I think that Terry Pratchett understands people and how they think and is able to present truths about the world in a funny way. This story is enjoyable for adults and young people. Anyone over the age of 11 should enjoy this story. I give it five stars! However, you should read the first two stories, The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky, first.

Definition: Lexophile

Brenda — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 19:05:18 +0000

Word: Lexophile
Definition: Someone who loves and appreciates cool and unusual words.
Pronunciation: Lex-o-file
Part of Speech: Noun
Example: You lexophile! Put down that dictionary!

Featured Author: Holly Black

Brenda — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:03:01 +0000

Holly Black is best known for The Spiderwick Chronicles, which she wrote with Tony DiTerlizzi. She has two mini-series in the Spiderwick universe. Her first book wasn’t published until 2002. Since then she has published several series in addition to the Spiderwick stories. Most of her stories are written for children aged seven to fifteen. She has a clear and concise writing style that is unusual for modern children’s books which are often unnecessarily long.

Some of her works include:
The Modern Faerie Tales Series
The Good Neighbors Series
The Curse Workers Series (first book released in May 2010)
The Faery Reel:Tales from the Twilight Realm

Quote: Stephen King

Brenda — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:02:28 +0000

Today’s quote is by Stephen King. He is most famous for writing thrilling and terrifying literature that is also often gross at the same time.

I’m a salami writer. I try to write good salami, but salami is salami.
- Stephen King

At least he knows.

Writing Tip: Reading

Brenda — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:41:34 +0000

I think I have stressed this point before, but I’ve thought about it again recently, due to the 100 top YA book list I mentioned yesterday.

Good writing skills start with literature absorbed from a very young age. Even babies and toddlers can learn to speak better and more intelligently if they are exposed to regular reading. Parents should encourage children to read, and read to them as much as possible. Even allowing your children to listen to audio books will help. This helps children learn to realize what properly constructed sentences and descriptive paragraphs sound like. This makes learning English and grammar easier when they get to the writing age.

My mother read a lot to us when we were young. She actually has several appropriate reading lists for children ages fourth grade and up. If you’re interested in reading her list, check out her website here.

Technology: Readers Top 100 YA Books

Brenda — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:23:15 +0000

Persnickety Snark had readers vote over a period of several weeks for their favorite young adult books. They published the list last week, and some of the results might surprise you.

Some of my favorite books that made the list include:
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Most of the books on the list I have read and was not terribly impressed with, or I haven’t read at all. I guess I know what I’ll be reading in the near future!

Check out the full list here.

Review: Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchet

Brenda — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:45:19 +0000

Only You Can Save Mankind is one of the first stories that Terry Pratchet wrote for a younger audience. This story is about a young 13 year old boy named Johnny Maxwell who starts to play a pirated copy of a alien fighting game. While playing, the aliens try to surrender to him because they do not want to fight. It turns out that the aliens in the game are real in some dimension, and they are tired of being slaughtered. Johnny must then decide if he wants to save the aliens or continue to kill them.

I enjoyed this book. Terry Pratchet has a way of writing that is thought-provoking and hilarious at the same time. Some of the “thoughtful” elements in this book were very much Discworld style, but it did not ruin the story for me. I actually thought at first that this story would be a satire of Ender’s Game, but it wasn’t. I give this book four out of five stars. Any child aged eleven and older should enjoy reading this story.