Pleonasm

Bwahahahahaha! Thank you much, Dinosaur Comics. :)

How to Write a Metaphor

I like Wikihow, and this is a good article on how to write a metaphor. (It touches on similes, too.)

"Metaphors are the cold knife in your side. They are the speed bumps that keep you from picking up writing momentum. They are the hidden monster lurking in the closet of ... of ... oh, darn it. Metaphors are tough, no doubt about it. But approached methodically, metaphors can be the spice in the cuisine that is your written work..."

Their best tip? Practice! :)

Be quiet in the library!

They mean it.
(from Savage Chickens)

That's what you get, buddy!

Don't mess with the grammar sheriff!

(from explosm.net)

More fun than...

The Savage Chickens artist (Doug Savage) must be a language geek, too.

Book Sites 2 - Brian Dettmer's Book Autopsies (Art)

These are incredible: Brian Dettmer's amazing book autopsies.



I found them here (Well, really I found them there via Boing Boing.)

Book Sites 1 - Judged by the Cover

Let's face it, we all do it. Go officially judge a book by its cover at coverboom.

After all, aren't we all sick of the standard covers? What are all those silhouttes doing out there anyway? ;)

Here's one of my favs:

"About face!" & the meaning of Rhetorissa

Well, as the title of this posting implies, I'm doing an "about face" on this blog. I can't think of any reason to keep this going as a personal blog. My hubby & I will start writing a personal blog together soon.

When I started this blog, I thought up the name Rhetorissa. This is due to the fact that I live a life in words (i.e., rhetoric) in many ways. As much as I appreciate visual and musical arts, my life is truly defined in words. I edit & proofread for a living. I am highly literal, in that if you say something vague, I truly won't get it... I can't connect the dots, make the leap, whatever, because there may be more than one meaning and I have to be absolutely sure of the meaning. I'm not highly literal with poetry, though -- I love the infinite shades of meaning that might be present in a poem, and I try in my poems to ensure that more than one meaning exists.

Perhaps most importantly, I think of myself as a writer. I am trying to finish my many-begun short stories and am in the middle of writing a sci-fi novel (O noes!), which is actually really hard!

So, in an effort to focus myself more on writing & to make this blog have more content, I now re-focus on words. This will be a somewhat loose focus, as in anything even remotely having to do with the art of rhetoric might be posted here (like the funny below!). Nonetheless, I think it'll do me some good to think about writing more, and hopefully this blog may actually develop into something worthwhile!

Savage Chickens: Jabberwocky Cartoon

Chased

I
Watched silently
As a shadow
dodged across the street
Chased by a chatter of leaves –

No one
Could know
but you.

All
Of the well-meaning
All

Turned,
Curled to
A fetal ball
And bared their fangs.
Chased by a scatter of dreams –

.


-issa

Grammar Humor

I'm such a geek that I just LOVE grammar humor.

You too? Check this out: http://grammarlaughs.blogspot.com/