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Your Only Alternative, is to Find an Alternate…

Angela1 Comment

…or you cannot compete in the contest.

Seems easy enough, right? We have a verb, and an adjective. But enough of that boring English lesson stuff. When I have seen these two words interchanged, it is because the writer used the verb as an adjective, and the adjective as the verb.

Some ideas to help all of us out. You can be an alternate in the spelling bee. You can alternate turns of who washes the dishes.

If you do not want to wash the dishes at all, you need to find an alternate, or better yet, come up with an alternative plan. Such as eating out. Then no one is washing the dishes. Well; no one except the employees at the restaurant.

Alternative is a substitution; a different choice besides the one proposed.

Alternate means take turns, and alternative means a different choice.

We Were Not All Meant To Be Writers…

Angela7 Comments

…because if it was not for us readers, you would all be working for nothing!

Reading Glasses Image

And that is just my way of saying Thank You to all of the authors who have been so kind to share the stories, the triumphs, the heartbreaks, and the challenges; all with me. Me being someone who wanted nothing more than to read what they had to write.

I look forward to another horrible Winter in West Michigan, with lots of coffee, Earl Grey tea, and great books to keep me comfy!

Write on my friends; write on!

ZOO – James Patterson

Angela1 Comment

For having 3 bookshelves full of Mr. Patterson’s books, I can say I liked this, but I did not love it.

I loved the premise of it, and I loved the fact that at some point, all of these animals we have been “taming and training”, could someday turn on us.

I had a quick flash of my favorite man eating me to the bone…. Thanks James Patterson 🙂

this is what I image Bare-Bottom-Benjamin doing after he scraped my bones clean!
this is what I image Bare-Bottom-Benjamin doing after he scraped my bones clean!

So is this possible? Likely. This is also a new television series that Debuted on CBS in June. I have not seen it. Yet. I may watch it. But I probably won’t have the time to.

Do You Accept, or Except?

Angela4 Comments

This is another set of words that I see misused often. In news media, magazines, and yes, even in print. Your editor really is your best friend!

Instead of explaining the ridiculous English rules, I try to find ways to help you, and me, remember how to use these words correctly. They are not interchangeable.

Accept means you allow something; you agree; you take it as it is.

Except means “only if”; it is a type of condition you set upon someone or something.

I accept your proposal. I cannot accept this gift.

(If you said “I cannot except this gift”, it would make no sense). 

You can either accept, or not accept, something.

I agree, except for the part where I do not get paid.

Everything looks good, except for your references.

Most of this looks good, but there is an exception. There is a part I do not agree with.

Accept means to agree (mostly), and except means you agree, but for one part.

Unfortunately, they both seem to be interchangeable. The best way I remember is accept means yes, and except means no. It will not work in every situation, but it will work in most.

I Am Too Tired to Bring the Two Dishes to the Cookout…

Angela5 Comments

Now that is a mouthful! This is also one of those spelling errors that makes me want to scratch my eyes out every time I see it.

Two. It is a number. That is it. Nothing more, and nothing less. It is Two. Not one, or three.

The Number Two Image

Too means in addition to, or also. “We will go too.” “I want to see it too.” If more than one person is involved, you can likely use “too”, and not make me scratch my eyes out. Think many people. Or think just overwhelmed. Too tired, too stressed, too busy. It is too much.

To is nothing more than a preposition that sets up a sentence. It can be before a noun, or a verb. “I want to go to Chicago.” I want to dance.” “I want to not ever see the words to, too, and two misused in public.”

Sweet Water – Christina Baker Kline

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After becoming the owner of a house and 60 acres willed to her after her Grandfather’s death, Cassie Simon decides this is just the change she needs. Having lived in the city for the majority of her life, she was not exactly sure what she was looking for, but that this was her chance to do something different.

image from: http://christinabakerkline.com/novels/sweet-water/
image from: http://christinabakerkline.com/novels/sweet-water/

Her long-lost family, who have not seen her since she and her father moved away after her mother was killed, are skeptical about why she would come back. Why would she decide to live in a house that has been empty for so long? Would she be capable of even taking care of herself, or would she expect her new-found family to help her out?

Cassie does her best to fit in, and get her new home in tip-top shape. Her relationship with her grandmother, whom everyone calls “Clyde”, is tense for reasons she does not understand and can’t seem to figure out.

This story is told from two different viewpoints: Cassie’s, and Clyde’s. This story drew me in right from the beginning, and I was anxious, and sad, and angry right along with Cassie as she learns more and more about her family, this new town, and what really, truly happened to her mother. The biggest question is, when she learns the truth, will she have any forgiveness left in her?

This is my first read of Ms. Kline, and I was not disappointed. She his highly reviewed, and highly rated. I happened to stumble on this book while browsing through others, not knowing what exactly I was looking for, but that I would know it when I saw it. And I did.

You can find out more about this book, and Ms. Kline, here: http://christinabakerkline.com/novels/sweet-water/

If you have read any of her stories, including this one, I would love to hear what you thought of it!

I Wrote How Many Book Reviews?

Angela3 Comments

I thought I should do a final post for 2014 of how many books I actually read, how many of those resulted in book reviews I posted, and anything else I may have thrown in.

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I could really tell from my blog activity what months were the most busy for me. Or should I say, what months I was working on the toughest MBA college classes.

I did a whole lot of nothing in the summer months when it came to posting book reviews. I was really busy from September to December, and although I have every good intention of reading at least 3 more books when I finish the one I am currently on, I thought this would be a good time to do this post.

As a side note, I am off work until January 5th, and am kid free until January 4th. Which means I have a whole lot of reading-in-bed-writing-reviews-playing-with-the-cat-nap-time planned 🙂

For the year as a whole, I posted to date, 67 book reviews.

Of those 67 reviews, 18 were of books I had previously read, so for 2014 I read 49 new books. Not too shabby for being a single Mom of a whole lot of girls, working 50+ hours a week, and going to college for my MBA. The 18 on books I previously read were a combination of Halloween features, Christmas features, and books that I had read in the past that had a great impact on me.

The Cricket on the Hearth

June was the only month I did not post any book reviews, and October was my busiest month, with 12 book reviews posted. I have to add that for December I am currently at 7, and do plan on at least 5 more before the New Year, but certainly do not expect it to exceed October.

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Some notables for 2014 for me:

I made the very tough decision to begin working on my MBA. After working non-stop for 2 years straight to get my BBA, I did take the entire year of 2013 off, as I promised my girls, and did not start college again until January 4th, 2014.

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After many months of contemplating, searching, and debating, I became the very proud owner of Beeblebrox Bare Bottom Benjamin Blu, or Benny to me! He is a Hairless Sphynx cat and I am not ashamed to say that little ball of wrinkled-velvety-soft skin has changed my life! I like to tease my 4 girls about their “little brother’, but believe you me, that little guy has gotten me through a lot of weekends when I was wide awake all night long from being a 3rd shift worker and having the weekend off.

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I made the decision to leave my Supervision position with my company and go back to a Materials Coordinator position that I had previously worked in for almost 5 years. I have worked for my company for over 18 years, and am so thankful to have such a wonderful employer.

I joined the Editorial Freelancers Association, and am currently working on getting myself set to begin editing and proofreading books for new and current authors. I have a love for books and the English language that I would probably have a very difficult time putting into words in order to get anyone to understand. (Now that is ironic, right?)

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I would personally like to thank each and every single one of you for liking, following, or just commenting on a random blog post. I could not begin to tell you the excitement I have when I see that someone liked a post I made, and even better yet, left a comment, or followed my blog!

I will be setting some goals for myself for 2015, and there will be more to come on that!