Happy holidays, everyone! I’ve made it through nearly the whole year without ranting about this, which I’m kind of proud of.
I cannot tell you how many books – both traditionally published and indie/self-published books – I’ve seen using the word “smirk” where it doesn’t belong.
A smirk is a one-sided smile. It can be smug, proud, fake, unpleasant, etc.
The easies way to remember the difference between a smirk and a smile is that if a person’s smirking, they’ve either won against the others, or they’re hiding something from the others (could be a good secret or something bad, doesn’t matter).
For example:
‘Merry Christmas,’ said the Grinch with a smirk. Later that night, he planned to press the big, red button in his lair and blow up all the presents.
But if a person’s happy, but not bragging or teasing or hiding a secret, they’re just smiling.
Can’t there be different types of smirk?
Yes, absolutely.
Damon from The Vampire Diaries is the classic example of the many different types of smirk. No one pulls off a smirk like Damon, and he does it in so many different ways or moods.
Here are some of the best examples I could gather for you of his different smirking styles…
Examples of Damon smirking in The Vampire Diaries
Cunning or evil smirk – like in the first few seasons:
You can’t tell what he’s thinking or planning – but the key is that his eyes are not smiling.
Playful or teasing smirk – Damon gives this type of smirk almost every time he interacts with Bonnie – once they become besties, that is.
Arrogant smirk – whenever Damon thinks he’s winning, or he’s managed to fool someone, you see this type of smirk… This screenshot is not the best because he’s talking, but you get the idea:
Loving smile that is sometimes a smirk – you could call Damon’s one-sided smile a smirk sometimes when he’s with the main character, Elena, because he’s hiding a secret from her. (Secret is: he loooooves her. Spoilers for 2011, I guess?)
This is the smile of someone who is proud of themselves for eliciting a reaction from their lover, or proud of their lover.
This versatility in expressions is just one of the many reasons why everyone loved to watch Ian Somerhalder play him in the 2000s and 2010s.
Damon was also a really well-rounded character, but I think I’ve fangirled enough for one post!
Incorrect times to say “smirk”
Sometimes a smile isn’t a smirk – it’s just a smile.
In a lot of novels I see these days, the male love interest is often smirking at the female hero – but not intentionally – he’s actually just smiling.
He’s not teasing her…
He doesn’t have bad intentions to pull one over on her…
He isn’t proudly smirking because he’s elicited a reaction from her…
He’s just smiling – so to say he’s “smirking” feels really jarring and just plain weird.
It makes the reader go, “Wait, what am I missing here? I thought this dude was in love with her?”
Pop quiz: Do you think Damon is smirking or smiling in this picture?
Y’all know I simply cannot let November pass by without attempting the #nanowrimo hullaballo. (NaNoWriMo = National Novel Writing Month. It’s a lot of fun trying to write a full novel in one month!)
And whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, you know playing music that matches the themes you’re writing can really get you in the mood … for prose. 😉
So if you, like me, are writing a fantasy novel this month, here’s some musical inspiration to listen to while you write…
Image credit: Fourth Wing fan art 🎨 by @jrtart_ (Jesslyn) as featured on X (Twitter)
(Oh, and there’s a new edition of book 1 with a new cover to match. 😎 If you already have the Kindle of book 1, you can download the new edition free.)
You’ll love Fire Warriors on the Mountain if you’ve ever gone through tough times in life, you love a good island holiday, and you love a well-muscled love interest… 😉🌴🌴🤿🍉🥭🌶
You don’t neeeeed to have read Fire Dancers in the Sand to understand Fire Warriors, but the paperback for Fire Dancers in the Sand is currently just $5 on Amazon — so why not buy both at once? 😉📖📗📘📚
And follow me if you’d like to hear first when Book 3 launches… Fire Gods in the Ice, aiming for a release in the next year! 📃📒⏰✅
The Oxford comma is when you put a comma before “and” or “or” or another conjunction, at the end of a list of three or more items.
e.g. I like to read books, write books, and talk about books.
e.g. I like to read, write, but not talk about books.
The Oxford comma is a special comma guidelines used by a lot of style guides here in Australia, including the style guides at QSuper and Canstar, which I wrote during my time there.
Why use the Oxford comma?
There are three reasons to use the Oxford comma:
Makes a sentence clearer if there are multiple “and”s.
Without the comma, the end of the sentence can become the observer/receiver of the sentence (incorrectly).
Without the comma, the end of the sentence can become a descriptive clause (incorrectly).
Image source: SayingImages.com
Using commas to make sentences easier to read
First, the Oxford comma is helpful because it separates the last item in the list from the second-last item, making the sentence clearer.
Here’s a comparison of using the Oxford comma vs not using it:
e.g. With the comma: QSuper now offers multiple different types of insurance, including death, total and permanent disability, and income protection cover.
e.g. Without the comma – less clear: QSuper now offers multiple different types of insurance, including death, total and permanent disability and income protection cover.
Using commas to keep sentences correct
Secondly, the Oxford comma is helpful because without the last comma, it can seem as if the end two items of the list are the observer or receiver of your sentence. An example can explain this better than I can:
e.g. With the comma: I love my pets, family, and friends.
e.g. Without the comma: I love my pets, family and friends. >>> You are actually telling your family and friends that you love your pets, i.e. “Family and friends, I love my pets.”
Thirdly, the Oxford comma is helpful because without it, it can seem as if the end two items of a list are describing the rest of the sentence (“a descriptive clause”, if you want to get nerdy).
e.g. With the comma: I love my pets, Mum, and Dad.
e.g. Without the comma: I love my pets, Mum and Dad. >>> I am saying that Mum and Dad are my pets, and they would really not be happy about that.
Why is it called the Oxford comma?
Now let’s get really nerdy! The “Oxford” comma is called by this name because it was traditionally used by the Oxford University Press editors and printers.
They also called it the “serial comma” because it’s used for lists, but since “serial” makes me think of serial killers, I don’t use that name.
Now, the Oxford Style Guide themselves dropped the “requirement” for an Oxford comma in all cases in 2011, and made it a guideline instead.
But there are still got many good reasons to use the Oxford comma, so I’m happy it’s sticking around.
As far as I’m concerned, there are three scenarios: using the Oxford comma correctly, not using the Oxford comma and being wrong.
(Joke. But seriously, it physically hurt me not to put the comma there.)
(C) TJ Withers-Ryan, 2022. Please credit me when you repost or share. Thanks!
This is probably the most hilarious post we’ll ever see on this page – and I’m keeping it PG on purpose so just… What can I say?
Think clean.
Image source: icanhascheezburger.com
Is it ‘bare with me’ or ‘bear with me’?
“bare” = not clothed, simple, uncovered.
e.g. They bared their soul with me by talking about their childhood, and I appreciate it.
e.g. They got bare with me, and we went skinny dipping.
So if we were to say “bare with me”, just make really, really sure that you actually want something to be undressed or uncovered…
“to bear” = to be patient / to hold up under pressure / to hold on during adversity.
e.g. We’re asking you to bear with us while we make our decision.
e.g. I can’t bear the humiliation.
So if we were to say “bear with me”, we would be asking someone to be patient with us while we talk something through with them, take a while to find some information for them, ask them more questions, etc.
(C) TJ Withers-Ryan, 2022. Please credit me when you share or repost, thanks!
I saw the most awesome documentary last week about healers all over the world. Within 2 minutes, I had tears leaking out because of what a good story a healing makes. Before, broken and hurting and helpless to do anything about it; afterwards, healed and whole and grateful to God. The best part is that the story is true.
This post – and my free ebook you can download below – is for the life writers of true stories who want some “back to basics” reminders for how to get your story on paper. Whether you’re writing memoir, autobiography, or biography, a few simple principles hold true. And most of them are fairly easy to spot in your own writing, so you can save a lot of time by referring back to these principles as you write.
Memoirs and biographies need to feel real for the reader. They need real drama.
Yes, it’s your story, but it’s still a story. Your story – or the story of the person whose life you’re chronicling – has already captured your attention and imagination and heart. It needs to be written in a way that also captures the reader’s attention and their heart.
Here’s my 8 basic tips – one for every day of the week, plus an extra.
I have been waiting and waiting for this book to be released! It was still in the editing process while I was working in marketing this year, so I didn’t get to work on it, but I got to read the final manuscript and OH MY GOODNESS.
This one was simply amazing! I’m not a crier but I cried for joy over this happy ending.
Here’s a quick peek inside the book and how/why Kat Apel wrote this uplifting story.
On Track by Kathryn Apel: A heart-warming children’s book about sports, sibling rivalry and the courage to be yourself.
A Roman woman writer, Terentia or Terenzia. She wears the gold hairnet common to the Imperial Period in Pompeii. Image source: Wikimedia Commons
This post is a bit of fun. Many women – myself included – love clothes and deciding what image we’re going to portray with our dress style. So today’s post is all about the fashions of historical and modern writers in different countries and genres.
Even Jane Austen loved talking about the latest fashions when she wasn’t writing. She once wrote to her sister, “My cloak came on Tuesday, and, though I expected a good deal, the beauty of the lace astonished me. It is too handsome to be worn — almost too handsome to be looked at.”
Today’s post is mainly for women, but if you’re interested, I can post a version for the gents later on!
Does any of this actually matter?
There’s a serious side to fashion.
Let’s say it’s time to finish writing your book. If you feel creative wearing certain clothes, wear them every time you write and you’ll write more often and with more energy!
Then it’s time to promote the book. If you know that you are wearing something that makes you look your best, you’ll feel more confident and find it easier to talk about your creative work with others. If you have a great profile photo, you won’t hesitate to get in touch with someone on LinkedIn. When you’re at a writer’s festival and you have a two-minute chance to chat with a publisher in an elevator after a session, you’ll speak with confidence knowing you look and feel your best, your most creative, your most “writerly”.
Writers come in all shapes and sizes, so ultimately you should choose whatever you feel most confident and creative in (thanks, Modern Mrs Darcy) as your “writer” outfit. But here are some ideas if you’ve never thought about dressing like a writer before…
Terry Pratchett. Image source: Robin Matthews, Camera Press, via Daily Mail UK
One of my favourite authors of all time, prolific and gifted fantasy satire author Terry Pratchett, passed away last week. It hit me suddenly; I realised I had missed my chance. I wished I could have written to him before he moved on, to thank him for how he changed my writing, my life.
“You are a wonderful writer. Your books live in two and a half whole shelves of my largest bookcase because I enjoy rereading them so much. Thank you for your clever characters who made me think about the world differently. Thank you for your involving plots and your hilarious sense of humour, which gave me another world to live in on grey days.”
I know I’m just one fangirl of many. He’s such a famous author that I know he must get stacks of fan mail every day, from emails to postcards (“Terry, here I am at the edge of the Disc!”). By the time he died at 66 years old, he’d written 70 novels, including the 40-novel Discworld series that I loved so much.
But I still wish that I’d been able to express my gratitude to him in some small way – for me, not for him.
That day I made sure I didn’t miss out on other opportunities. I wrote two letters to authors at the publishing house where I work, whose novels are currently being copy-edited (an arduous process in which you question every word choice). I’d read the first or second drafts of their manuscripts in preparation for promoting their work and loved – simply loved – the writing and the characters. I’m not a crier, but I cried over the happy ending of one of them, sitting there at my desk in the marketing office.
So I wrote and told them, “I loved your book. It moved me greatly and I feel inspired to go out and do something about it. Your theme is one I’ve seen in real life and it thrilled me to see someone put it into words so accurately and with such real emotion.”
And I learned a big lesson.
Your encouragement is the best gift you can give a fellow writer.
I wrote this email to a client last month and they said it had to be shared, so here is an edited version of that note. I hope it encourages you as it did them.
Image source: Tamika Christy
Dear doubting writer,
No worries, don’t stress. Panic is a normal part of the writing (and a vital part of the editing) process; no doubt you know that already.
I wouldn’t have quoted on your book if I didn’t see in it the potential to be a truly worthy book. I’m not saying the book is perfect; that’s why editing is a good idea. But you’ve already got my vote of confidence.
There’s no one with a gun to your head to get this book out ASAP. No matter when it arrives, people will be thrilled ecstatically to read it.
But you know what, even if you look at your book and think “eh, it’s still not perfect”, I was reading another book today and came across this quote:
“the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best”
– Henry van Dyke
TJ Withers 