Well that’s annoying. I wanted to use italics in my title and WordPress won’t let me. Maybe if I upgrade to the paid version… meanwhile I’ll put quotes in this post, which I’d normally have italicised, in purple so the original italics still show up.

The word italics comes from Latin. The print style was named for the Venetian printer who used it first. The adoption of italic fonts has a fascinating history that leads the procrastinating blogger down many Googling byways. Do explore them one wet Sunday afternoon.

We use italics for emphasis. Just as some people wave their hands about more than others, so do some authors, often putting their italics into their characters’ mouths to avoid seeming too histrionic themselves. Jane Austen, brought up to discreet deportment and quiet speech, can be vicious with italics:

Pride and Prejudice, Penguin edition, Australia 2008

Nowadays writers are advised against

I found this email in my inbox last night:

I took a screenshot and deleted personal stuff so you could see what it looks like.

Firstly, how did I know this was a scam? Simple – I don’t use Microsoft OneDrive. I have NEVER used OneDrive.

Next, if you look at the email sender it says:

’email@mail.onedrive.com’

Not even a hint of Microsoft anywhere. ‘mail.onedrive’ is a domain that has nothing to do with Microsoft. [When you register a domain, no one else can use it. But there is nothing to stop someone from registering a domain that ‘hints’ at belonging to a well known company].

And finally, do you see the big, red ‘YOU’? I put that in to highlight the poor grammar used in the body of the email. You won’t always find poor grammar, but when you do, it’s a dead giveaway. Whoever set up this scam…

Don’t you miss
The soft whisper
Of my sweet summer
Wits?
My secret glares,
My unlikely kindred
References to a world
That is no more?
Don’t you miss
My squirrel thoughts,
Or were they rhino’s?
Dreams meant only
To be dreamt,
Times only
To be imagined.
Places unexplored
Playgrounds offered,
But only
If you
Join me.

Today is the Summer Solstice, which means we are mid way through the year already.

When did this happen?

We have all been so busy worrying about so many things, that the year is half gone, and in a hurry to finish, if you ask me.

There is also a brand new moon tonight, so maybe the rest of 2020 will start well and produce some good results.

And speaking of good results, we thought we would celebrate the Solstice with some positive news. We have started the process of publishing Anita’s book, Annie’s Song.

Family or freedom, which would you choose?

Life in the backwoods of Virginia at the turn of the century was perfect,
until Annie discovers a nasty family secret.
Something her family have been doing for years.
She knows she cannot live like this, but her protests fall on deaf ears.

Sue Vincent is the host of Thursday Photo Prompt

Welcome to this week’s #writephoto prompt!

This week’s prompt ~ Painted

(For visually challenged writers, theimage shows a rather oriental red bridge over a pool covered with water lilies and surrounded by trees)

~*~

Spend a day by the enchanted pool

Stand on the bridge to see the lilies bloom

Let the sun warm you from inside out

Ignore the darkness that lurks in the past

Take a hiatus from the troubles of life

Be at peace in the garden scape of delight

When surrounded by beauty all around

Your spirit rejoices and the soul sings songs

The idyllic scene painted for your pleasure

Enjoy it now, today and put worrying for another day

~*~

#Keepitalive

#WritePhoto

I’M reposting my very first blog post from May 2010, originally titled “Herbert West, Reanimated.” Because I started blogging as part of my self-publishing project, it made sense to begin by introducing my book, which at the time was on the brink of being published.

Shown below is the original cover image, created by moi, with my husband and a neighbour as models. Four years later, I replaced it with the professionally designed version in the featured image.

The Friendship of Mortals has received some good reviews (and a few others as well) in the past decade, and the ebook just happens to be available for free (at the Smashwords store only) during their Authors Give Back sale until May 31st, 2020.

In one of my books of H.P. Lovecraft’s stories, (The Tomb and Other Tales, Ballantine edition, 1970) there is a chronological list of HPL’s…

for British Columbia, Canada
(Humorous short story – some of you may relate even. As the date says, this was written while I still drove for Coca Cola, something to entertain fellow drivers. Some thought it was funny, some didn’t get it and wanted an official copy from ICBC – the provincial ministry in charge of drivers’ licenses)

Dear students,

You have graduated from Professional Driving T-18. Congratulations. The following is intended to help you make sense of all that you have studied and practiced in the last 6 months. There is no extra charge for this information but we would encourage you all to read through these following pages and think about it. This information, while not an official part of the course, was collated from interviews with long-time professional drivers who, upon retiring, wanted to share some of their observations.

This section is called “Moving Obstacles.”

The road…