Plain Vs Plane: Fun with Words

I have to start this post with the same disclaimer I’ve used before: I am not a grammarian. I make mistakes in my writing. I am always learning, growing and (hopefully) honing my craft.

That being said, I do take the time to look up a word if I’m not sure how to use it. When reading a popular fiction blog yesterday, I came across this sentence: 

(MC) felt as if she had been transported to the highest level of the physical plain. Eyes closed, she took a deep breath and considered the possibility that she may have crossed over into the spiritual plain. Intuitively, she knew she must understand how vibration is defined differently on the spiritual plain…

I said to myself – Oh no, not again. 

Homonyms are problematic for many writers. I wrote about some of the usual suspects in these posts: 

Common Words Writers and Bloggers Misuse 

Did that Pique, Peek or Peak Your Interest? 

Regarding plain or plane, here’s a refresher:

Plain: 

Simple, normal, basic 

I’m looking for a plain white t-shirt

Obvious, clear

It was in plain view

Flat, level

He lives near the salt plains of Utah

Plane:

An airplane

A flat or level surface

A carpenter’s tool

Level of existence, consciousness (see above)

It’s confusing because the words plain and plane sound alike. In fact, they both come from the Latin word planus which means flat or clear.

I always have to pause and think when I'm using affect or effect. What about you, are there certain words that trip you up? ____________________________________________________

This post is in participation with the Group Blogging Experience, and this week’s prompt is Oh no, not again. If you want to blog with us, go to the GBE2 Facebook page and request to join the group. Everyone is welcome.

Freelance Work

A few years ago I retired from the corporate workplace. What's that you say? I look too young to be retired? Well, that's mighty kind of you, thanks.

Ahhh, flattery. It always makes my day. Where was I? Oh yeah, work. So I retired from a big job that required lots of hard work and responsibility and decided to be a freelancer - although I had no idea what that really meant. I set about researching freelance opportunities and started a fledgling writing career. I'd hack out corporate communications copy, sales brochures and annual reports all day long; mostly for companies I had relationships with from my previous jobs. Hey, it's a living. But I still didn't know how to develop a 'real' freelance writing career.

In the meantime, I started blogging. Now I'm old school (another age reference? really?!) and didn't know nuthin about no blogging. I jumped in anyway and wrote some pitiful posts. Wavering somewhere between online journaling and mindless drivel, I chugged along. I needed a place to be creative so I kept at it.

Feeling a little more confident and realizing I needed a niche, I began a blog about my pets. People started to read it. I started to like it. I'm a crazy, diehard animal lover so it fit. Then an editor at a corporate dog food blog started reading, one thing led to another, and now I blog for them. Real work as a freelancer! A few more goodies have come my way and I am eternally grateful. I plan to work harder and keep growing.

I'll finish this post with yet another age reference. If you take anything away from this post, it should be this:

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This post is in participation with the Group Blogging Experience, and this week’s topic is work. If you want to blog with us, visit the GBE2 Facebook page and request to join the group. Everyone is welcome.
 

Am I Really a Writer?

Can you call yourself a writer if you’re not writing? I know writers who claim they must write every day, it’s like oxygen to them. I am not that person. I can go for long periods of time without writing anything. Even if I need to write for financial reasons - if it’s not happening it’s just not happening.

I am in this very slump right now. I’m distracted. Other things seem more pressing. I don’t feel like writing. I wouldn’t call it writers block because I have plenty of ideas.


If I could make myself sit down and put my fingers on the keyboard I’m sure the words would come.

Words don’t fail me. If anything, I fail them.

I wrote a silly poem about writer’s block last year, primarily to get over the hump. Here it is: Overcoming Writer's Block - a Poem. But even then, I questioned the difference between writer’s block and lack of motivation. Are they the same thing? Are they different?

To me, they are different.

I’m supposed to be writing about balance and I am. Are you following? If you’re reading between the lines you’ll gather that I have none. You are correct. I’m either in a writing frenzy or a writing drought. (Maybe writing slack-off would be a more precise description but I’m scared of the word slack-off).

My hope is that this forced post makes me climb back in the saddle. My pocketbook hopes so too.

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This post is in participation with the Group Blogging Experience, and this week’s prompt is balance. If you want to blog with us, go to the GBE2 Facebook page and request to join the group. Everyone is welcome.

Common Words Writers and Bloggers Misuse: Fun with Words

Disclaimer: I am not a grammarian. I make mistakes in my writing. I am always learning, growing and (hopefully) honing my craft.

I read a lot of blogs and see common words that even seasoned writers and bloggers misuse. In many cases, online writers and bloggers don’t have editors. We can self-publish with the push of a button. There is danger in that freedom; when words are repeatedly used incorrectly, a writer’s post or article loses credibility.

Homonyms are tricky. They are words that are spelled or pronounced the same way as one or more other words but have different meanings. If you’re writing and you’re unsure about the proper use of a word, take the time to look it up. If you’re in the flow and can’t be bothered, go back and edit before you publish. It matters.

Here are some of the worst offenders:

Smile, Modine: Flash Fiction

Modine hobbled up 4 steep steps to get on the bus. She could feel the impatience of other the passengers. Their shifting and grumbling confirmed it, she was taking too long. She tried to hustle but her blasted right knee was not cooperating. It locked up at the bus stop and hurt like hell. After much effort she reached the platform and counted out her change. Dropping the coins into the slot, she grabbed an overhead rail as the bus whined and wheezed its way onto the busy road. It sounded as feeble as Modine felt.     

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This post was written for The Writers' Post group on Facebook, and this week’s prompt is to write a flash fiction story with exactly 100 words, including the title.  If you want to connect with other bloggers and join the fun, go to The Writers' Post Facebook page and request to join the group. Everyone is welcome.

Opportunities to Make Money

Opportunities multiply as they are seized. ~Sun Tzu

And by opportunities--for the purpose of this post--I mean money. Sure, it doesn’t grow on trees like the photo suggests (wouldn’t that be convenient!?) but I sincerely believe that opportunities to make money multiply as they are seized. My experience as a freelance writer proves this point.

When I was just starting out, a potential client approached me about a project that involved writing copy for trade publications. Yeah, okay, I can do that. What's the project? 

Extracting contaminated PCBs from transformers. 

Whaaaat? I was clueless... but broke. What to do, what to do?

I was honest. I told him I didn't consider myself a technical writer of that kind but that I was a quick learner. I let him know that I was willing to give it a shot if he could make the resources (engineers) available for me to ask loads of stupid uninformed questions. We further agreed that if I didn't 'get it' in a reasonable time frame we would part ways respectfully. No harm, no foul.       

Many seasoned freelance writers will tell you to find your passions and build a niche for yourself. I agree with that advice 100%. But I am also passionate about food and shelter. I certainly didn't want (or expect) to build a niche as a Polychlorinated biphenyls writer but it paid the bills. And it lead to more writing opportunities.

You know what? It was interesting. Not interesting as in 'how does Raquel Welch still look so good at her age' interesting, but interesting. I dug in, focused, and learned a lot. I wrote about PCBs for quite a while (and if you know about PCBs, this post is really showing my age!).

So that's my advice, for what it's worth. Grow your own money tree. Go boldly forward. Seize those opportunities and they will multiply. 

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This post is in participation with the Group Blogging Experience, and this week’s topic is a picture prompt. If you want to blog with us, go to the GBE2 Facebook page and request to join the group. Everyone is welcome.