So after months of hard work, discussion, and objections to my questionable belief that orange and green are always automatically complementary colors, my new website has launched! All credit to taraoshea for gorgeous graphic design, and to porpentine for skillful implementation. Take a look:

http://seananmcguire.com/index.php

You will note that most of the links don't work, and that the text in the 'Appearances' box is still completely out of date. We're working on that, and I'll be posting here as things go live. (We should get the disclaimer and appearances updates done today, and then Chris is going to work on swapping over the Songbook and setting up the first of the FAQ pages.) All shame for missing text should be directed towards me, as I've been terribly lax in actually turning it in before the site was ready to go live. I need to actually be able to see how it's going to look on the page. This is the danger of having a visual mind.

But isn't it pretty? I'm just as pleased as punch, and I'm only going to get happier as more sections of the site go live. Chris is even fixing it so I can update more parts of it myself, which means it'll get fussed with daily, just like everything else I can put on a to-do list.

Squee.

Life is good.

So I'm heading up to Seattle for the second half of December, partially to spend the holidays with Vixy and Tony (because who wouldn't want to spend the holidays with some of their bestest friends?), but mostly to rehearse for Conflikt II, which is going to be an absolute blast. For serious, my concert is going to include Vixy, Tony, Amy McNally, three-quarters of Puzzlebox -- I have KEYBOARDS and DRUMS and PAUL playing GUITAR!!!! I win at everything -- and and and. So that's going to rule.

But since they have me, they might as well exploit me, right? I enjoy being exploited. I am a grindhouse special, and I am ready to be your midnight movie. With all that in mind, I'm going to be joining them on January 3rd for a special house concert hosted by Erosong. For serious! Also for glee. There's gonna be thrills. There's gonna be chills. There may even be some mild mass hysteria, if we totally strut our stuff. ("What are you going to do?" "I'm gonna do the best I can.")

The concert is going to be happening in scenic Kenmore, Washington, and RSVPs are requested, for the sake of everybody's sanity. It's a potluck, which means there will be lots of yummy food, and there's no fixed admission cost, just a suggested donation. Check the event link for more details, and if you're at all local, I hope I'll see you there.

Let's take a trip back in time with number eighteen in my ongoing series of essays on the art and craft of writing, aka 'the first essay where Seanan has really had an excuse to use dinosaurs as a metaphor for life.' There will eventually be fifty essays in this series, all of them based on my fifty thoughts on writing. Naturally, this means that some essays will be more useful than others, while some essays will contain a lot of references to extinction events and the need for electric fences around your velociraptor pens.

Here's our thought for the day:

Thoughts on Writing #18: Thesaurus vs. Velociraptor.

I realize that the title isn't entirely helpful, which is why we always have an expanded topic for discussion. (My personal shorthand for a lot of things is very, very strange. This is only one of those things.) Here's today's expanded, hopefully less-confusing topic:

Using big words doesn't make you a better writer, it makes you somebody who figured out how to use a thesaurus. Every word has a purpose and a meaning, but there's no reason to clutter up what you're trying to say with a bunch of words that will leave most readers diving for their dictionaries. That doesn't mean you need to dumb yourself down. It just means you need to really stop and ask yourself whether you want to use the word 'expectorate' when what you mean is 'spit.' Even Shakespeare used small words sometimes, and even the trashiest popular novelist in the world is allowed to use big ones. Suit your words to the task at hand.

That's right: this week we're going to be talking about word choices, what those word choices actually say about us as writers, and how to use the Thesaurus without inspiring people to beat you with it. The velociraptors are a metaphor for using the appropriate word in the appropriate situation. Also, I just really, really like velociraptors.

Ready? Excellent. Let's get started.

( My thoughts are not your thoughts; my process is not your process; my ideas are not your ideas; my method is not your method. All these things are totally right for me, and may be just as totally wrong for you. So please don't stress if the things I'm saying don't apply to you -- I promise, there is no One True Way. This way for my thoughts on word choices, thesaurus abuse, and why some nervous habits need to become extinct.Collapse )