This week’s word is super easy. I had a different word in mind for today, but the snippet was full of spoilers 😬 And, as I can’t search for just italics in Scrivener, I thought I’d cheat and go with a nice easy one.
Category: Fiction
Things in Scots: Running the Asset Edition – Eariwig
For the longest time, I had no idea that this week’s word wasn’t English. One of its meanings is the same as its English counterpart–earwig. But there is another meaning in Scots (and quite possibly Northumbrian), which you’ll find in the example below.
Here’s the snippet… (unedited first draft)
Continue reading “Things in Scots: Running the Asset Edition – Eariwig“What I’m Reading 15th April
Woohoo! I managed to carve out some time to read last week–a nice change to previous weeks where I’d had little to no time set aside.
This week, I’ve decided to go with just one book as I’ve upped my writing output, and it’s turning my brain to sausage.
Continue reading “What I’m Reading 15th April“Things in Scots: Running the Asset Edition – Gie’s
After yesterday’s mammoth writing session, I was contemplating writing this post tomorrow to give my poor hands a break. But, I had a quick look through what I was writing over the last week, and today’s word jumped out at me.
Here’s the snippet… (unedited first draft)
Continue reading “Things in Scots: Running the Asset Edition – Gie’s“What I’m Reading 8th April
It’s been another week of little reading time, but I did manage to squeeze some time in! I finished reading A Spy’s Guide to Taking Risks by John Braddock, and it was a fascinating read.
Spread over the chapters is the tale of Braddock’s first time travelling to a meet in alias. At first, it seems pretty benign but quickly plunges into a “worst day ever” scenario. We follow him as he does risk analysis on the fly, ditching border guards and a possible tail.
In each chapter, Braddock steps away from the story to explain a spy’s decision making in risky situations. The thought process, the AND-OR components that go into their decision making, the factoring in of every possible eventuality–and assigning probability percentages.
As I read, I saw ways of utilising what I’d learnt in my everyday decision making. But, mostly, I couldn’t stop seeing how I could use it in fiction.
And now, onto this week’s reads.
[FYI: The book links are free from affiliate codes.]
Continue reading “What I’m Reading 8th April“Things in Scots: Running the Asset Edition – Sma
Hi everyone! Let’s start April off with a nice easy Scots word. There are a surprising amount of things today’s word means, but in the context of the snippet, the meaning I’m going for is obvious–well, I’m pretty confident that it is.
Here’s the snippet… (unedited first draft)
Continue reading “Things in Scots: Running the Asset Edition – Sma“What I’m Reading 1st April
I can’t believe it’s been three weeks since I shared my latest reads. But, to be honest, all of my reading plans went out the window. Well, not out the window; they just went so slow that I had to re-read chapters to remember what happened in the days since I’d last read.
I go through the odd month of barely getting any reading done, but I’d thought that wouldn’t be an issue given that I was reading two of my favourite authors. But, I know why I’ve struggled to get much reading done.
Okay, that last statement sounds like I did some deep thinking about the issue and came up with some startling revelation… nope. As I was reading my Fun read–a book I know I love because I’ve read it multiple times–I suddenly remembered that I don’t read fiction when I’m writing fiction.
It probably sounds insane. Wouldn’t reading fiction, especially a well-written novel in my genre, be helpful? For me, no.
While I was writing my scenes, I noticed a different tone slipping in. It was present in the narrative, the dialogue, and the characters. It wasn’t a crappy tone. It was just a bit darker than mine and with less humour. Basically, it wasn’t suitable for my story. (H. R. D’Costa calls it tone tampering.)
So, with my lesson learnt, I’ve decided to give fiction a by while I’m in writing mode.
[FYI: The book links are free from affiliate codes.]
The Work Read
Things in Scots: Running the Asset Edition – Wean
This week’s word is another one that might require a pronunciation explainer. Last week I explained that ae sounds like the English ay in bay/say/hay. The ea in wean sounds exactly the same.
Here’s the snippet… (unedited first draft)
Continue reading “Things in Scots: Running the Asset Edition – Wean“Things in Scots: Running the Asset Edition – Naewey
The spelling of this week’s word might make it a bit difficult to pronounce, as vowels in Scots don’t sound the same as they do in English. A good example is the word wash. In Scots, wash rhymes with rash/cash/mash.
And onto today’s word. The letters ae sound like the ay you find in hay/bay/say, and ey sound like eye/why/die. Altogether, naewey sounds like nay-why.
Regardless of whether you needed the quick vowel explainer or not, I’m sure the meaning of this week’s word is clear.