The Writers Network News, May 2012 issue http://ezezine.com
The Writers Network News, May 2012 Issue
In This Issue
One: From the editor's desk--Seize the Day
Two: Ask the Book Doctor--About Advertising versus Speaking
Engagements, Gerund Use, and Singular Verbs
Three: This Month's Easy Editing Tip from Bobbie Christmas--Due
To/Since/Because
Four: Subjects of Interest to Writers
Five: Contests, Agents, and Markets
Six: Got Muse?--Dumb Decisions
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The Writers Network News
No Rules; Just Write!
Editor: Bobbie Christmas
Contents copyright 2011, Bobbie Christmas
No portion of this newsletter can be used without permission; however,
you may forward the newsletter in its entirety to anyone who may be
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Past Issues Available
To view current and past issues of The Writers Network News, go to
http://tinyurl.com/c4otf6.
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Some links in this newsletter may include "tiny url" with the help of
www.tinyurl.com, which takes long Web addresses and converts them to
short ones.
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Writer's quote of the month
F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "What people are ashamed of usually makes a
good story."
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One: From the editor's desk--Seize the Day
Dear Readers:
A few days ago, I received shocking news. Fellow editor Kaye
Coppersmith, a tremendously active volunteer for the Florida Writers
Association and a good friend of mine, died suddenly of a heart attack.
She and I talked often, and I had spoken with her just a few days
earlier. I find it hard to believe she is gone.
Kaye coordinated the FWA editing service, for which I also did some
work. One of my biggest supporters, she touted my books wherever she
went. She said she kept a copy of my Purge Your Prose of Problems book
by her computer at all times. What an honor, that such a reputable
editor would use my book as her main editing reference!
The Florida Writers Association asked me to take over as coordinator of
its editing service, and I agreed to do it in Kaye's honor. While I
plow through information trying to sort out everything and uncover ways
to make the service even more helpful and efficient, I sense that Kaye
is with me. I hear her laughing and being her usual cheerful self,
giving me tips and hints on how to solve issues. She even whispered in
my mind the new name for the service, in keeping with the FWA motto of
"Writers Helping Writers." The service will be renamed "Editors Helping
Writers." The editing service is available only to members of the
Florida Writers Association, but you don't have to live in or near
Florida to become a member.
I have a fondness for FWA, because years ago, I helped the founder,
Glenda Ivy, form the organization, and she rewarded me with a lifetime
membership. Glenda moved on, but the organization continued to grow. It
has chapters across the state, gives great conferences, and is hugely
helpful to writers. For more information on the Florida Writers
Association, see http://www.floridawriters.net/.
Regardless of how we feel about life after death, loved ones live on in
our hearts and minds,. Kaye is with me, closer than when she was in the
flesh. Her passing makes me think of all the projects I want to
complete before I eat my salad from the roots up. She's spurring me on
to see what's important in life and to tackle my most important
projects first. Thank you, Kaye; I am seizing the day.
Yours in writing,
Bobbie Christmas (Bobbie@zebraeditor.com or bzebra@aol.com )
Author of Write In Style (Union Square Publishing), owner of Zebra
Communications, and director of The Writers Network
If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, please sign up to get your
own copy. Simply go to www.zebraeditor.com, click on "Free Newsletter,"
and follow the prompts. I never share your address or send out spam.
Scout's honor.
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Two: Ask the Book Doctor: About advertising versus Speaking
Engagements, Gerund Use, and Singular Verbs
By Bobbie Christmas
Q: I've been offered a big discount on an ad in a national magazine
that appeals to poets and other writers. The magazine plans a special
section that features new writers, and I want to promote my poetry book
in that section. What do you think? Should I spend my money promoting
my poetry book in a magazine?
A: When was the last time you bought a book because you saw an
advertisement in a magazine? Let me guess: never, right? You're not
alone. Although I do not set myself up as an advertising guru, I worked
in advertising for many years, and I never heard of a book ad that
brought in much revenue. Yes, the ad may get the book some recognition,
so that when potential buyers later see the book in a store, they may
be influenced to buy it, but few people pick up the phone or go to a
computer to order a book from an ad, especially an ad for a poetry
book.
Who is most likely to buy a poetry book? Someone who has heard that
poet's work. Where can potential buyers hear a poet's work? At
gatherings for writers, of course. For that reason, my number-one
suggestion is to use your time and money getting booked to speak at
venues where you can read your poetry and sell your books face-to-face.
Q: Why is it considered poor English usage to begin a sentence with a
gerund?
A: If by "poor" you mean incorrect, it's not consistently true,
although it can happen, and if by "poor" you mean "weak," it can be
true, but again, not necessarily. To say using a gerund at the
beginning of a sentence is always poor, weak, or incorrect is an
overgeneralization. Once I explain the problems a gerund at the
beginning of a sentence can cause, however, you will see why smart
writers avoid them.
Gerunds--verbs turned into nouns by adding ing, such as laughing,
cooking, and walking--are common and proper English. That said, -ing
formations often weaken writing when they call for passive verbs to
drive the sentence. For example: Hanging from the rafters, the bats
were upside down. "Were" is an inactive verb that shows no action.
Recast the sentence, and see what you get: The bats hung upside down
from the rafters. "Hung" is a stronger verb than "was," because readers
can visualize "hung," and it shows action, even if not much, and
therefore it is a stronger verb than "was."
Worse than weak writing, though, are dangling modifiers, and gerunds,
especially at the beginning of a phrase or a sentence, often act as the
culprits in dangling modifiers.
Let's examine, for example, the following sentence: Waving good-bye,
the boat pulled away, while we watched the shore fade in the distance.
As written, the boat waved good-bye, because the word "waving" refers
to the next noun, the boat. That example is typical of a dangling
modifier created by beginning the sentence with a gerund. If you want
to keep the gerund in the beginning, you could rewrite the sentence
this way: Waving good-bye, we watched the shore fade in the distance
while the boat pulled away. In the recast form, the word "waving"
refers to "we," which is correct.
Another way that gerunds result in weak writing is that many writers
get into a pattern of overusing them, especially at the beginnings of
sentences. Strong writers, however, avoid overusing any structure.
Q: Which is correct? "Neither of us rides (or ride) the bus."
A: When saying something negative that applies to each of two people,
the word "neither" calls for a singular verb: "Neither of us rides the
bus."
Bobbie Christmas, book editor, author of Write In Style (Union Square
Publishing), and owner of Zebra Communications, will answer your
questions, too. Send them to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Read more "Ask the
Book Doctor" questions and answers at www.zebraeditor.com.
Bobbie Christmas will answer your questions, too. Send them to
Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. Read more "Ask the Book Doctor" questions and
answers at www.zebraeditor.com or www.zebracommunications.com.
Would you like to read, save, or share the Ask the Book Doctor column
as a PDF file? At http://zebraeditor.com/files/ask_the_book_doctor.pdf,
the newest column is posted around the first of each month.
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Three: This Month's Easy Editing Tip from Bobbie Christmas--Due
To/Since/Because
Many of my clients get confused and use "due to" to mean because,
perhaps because they think it sounds astute. Alas, it is incorrect. In
addition, using "since" to mean "because" can confuse readers. For
clarity, use "since" only to indicate the passage of time. Incorrect:
The court was adjourned due to a power failure. Correct: The court was
adjourned because of a power failure. Correct: Martha paid everything
that was due to the power company. Ambiguous: Since I don't know the
answer, I'll pass. Clearer: Because I don't know the answer, I'll pass.
Correct: I haven't seen John since he started dating Marsha.
Use my trademarked Find and Refine Method to locate every use of "due
to" or "since" to be sure you have used the words correctly. Go to the
Find function on your computer (Control + F on a PC or Command + F on a
Mac) and under Find What, type the word or words you seek to review.
When you hit Find Next, your computer will find the word, and you can
check to see if it is used correctly. If either "since" or "due to" is
used to mean "because," change the words to "because" or use the
Replace function to change the wording to "because. Repeat the process
to the end of the manuscript.
For more opportunities for improving your manuscripts, buy one of the
few remaining copies of Write In Style at
http://zebraeditor.com/book_write_in_style.shtml.
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Four: Subjects of interest to writers
Little, Brown and Company released details about J.K. Rowling's
forthcoming novel for adults called The Casual Vacancy. The
soon-to-be-published 480-page story will focus on the idyllic town of
Pagford as a local election pits its inhabitants against each other.
The publisher described the book as "blackly comic, thought-provoking
and constantly surprising."
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Associated Press Caves to Former Misuse of 'Hopefully'
A must-read blog on The Washington Post website confirms that "the
venerated AP Stylebook publicly affirmed (via tweet, no less) that it
had . . . succumbed. 'We now support the modern usage of hopefully,'
the tweet said. 'It is hoped, we hope.'"
I feel certain The Chicago Manual of Style (preferred by book
publishers) has not yet caved, but the article by Monica Hesse is
clever and fun to read. See http://tinyurl.com/73b3evl.
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Write In Style Soon to be Unavailable, But Do NOT pay $157 for a copy!
Write In Style by Bobbie Christmas is the first book to teach you how
to write tighter, stronger, and more creatively, PLUS you will learn
how to speed through your editing phase. Write In Style won the Royal
Palm Literary Award for education, Best in Division (Georgia Author of
the Year Awards), and was a finalist in USABookNews Best Books 2005.
Hurry! I have very few copies left of Write In Style. After I sell all
my copies, you will have to pay the prices on Amazon, from $75 to $157
per book. Prices will rise even more, when I run out of copies. To pay
the high prices, see http://tinyurl.com/4hc2bxu, but to pay only the
original cover price of $12.95 plus shipping, go to
http://zebraeditor.com/book_write_in_style.shtml. I will even autograph
the book.
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You don't need to be a writer; you just need to have a story. According
to The New York Times, Greg Smith, the former Goldman Sachs executive
who resigned from a high-placed position at the banking giant through a
scathing New York Times op-ed has an agent and is meeting with
publishers.
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I wish every writer in America would read this blog entry by Carol
Saller: http://tinyurl.com/88a3zsf.
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Make-or-Break Verbs
By CONSTANCE HALE
The New York Times
Verbs can make or break your writing, so consider them carefully in
every sentence you write. Do you want to sit your subject down and hold
a mirror to it? Go ahead, use is. Do you want to plunge your subject
into a little drama? Go dynamic. Whichever you select, give your
readers language that makes them eager for the next sentence.
See http://tinyurl.com/7taw4rd.
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Purge Your Prose of Problems
A Book Doctor's Desk Reference, Fifth Edition
Save thousands of dollars and edit your own book! Order my proprietary
book-doctor desk reference book online at http://tinyurl.com/4ptjnr.
In alphabetical order and in easy-to-understand language, Purge Your
Prose of Problems covers all you need to know to revise and edit
fiction and nonfiction books, including grammar, punctuation, word
choices, creative writing, plot, pace, characterization, point of view,
dialogue, Chicago style, format, and much more. The spiral binder lets
the book lie flat in front of your computer, for easy use. Available
printed or as a PDF e-book that allows you to keep all this vital
information on your computer for ready reference.
To save thousands of dollars by editing your own book, order Purge Your
Prose of Problems today at http://tinyurl.com/4ptjnr.
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From The Chicago Manual of Style Website Q & A This Month
Q. The clarification on compound color hyphenation in the 16th edition
is greatly appreciated, but my coeditors and I still disagree on a
problem common in fiction: do general modifiers such as "dark,"
"light," or "bright" count as compounds when used with a color
("dark-blue tie," akin to "midnight-blue tie") or as a set of distinct
adjectives following Chicago's preference for minimal hyphenation
("dark blue tie," akin to "old blue tie")?
A. It depends on their meaning. If the blue is dark (or midnight), it
is a color compound and can take a hyphen. But"old" refers to the tie
rather than some outdated shade of blue, so"old blue" is not a
compound, and a hyphen ("old-blue") makes no sense. Consider too that
when the meanings of two versions ("dark blue tie" and"dark-blue tie")
are so close as to be indistinguishable, it might not be worth your
time to worry about it.
The Chicago Manual of Style is the reference that book editors use. For
more CMOS Q & A, see http://tinyurl.com/2xscwn.
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Amazon E-book Prices to Go Down
Amazon announced it will reduce its e-book prices, bringing some major
titles down to $9.99 or less, from $14.99, according to the New York
Times. Consumers may benefit in the short-term from the price cuts, but
will authors? It may be difficult to predict. Authors generally get a
percentage of the price consumers pay. When that price goes down,
author royalties go down. Will sales in general go up, though? Who's to
tell?
The planned price cuts come on the heels of the Justice Department's
announcement of an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and five publishers,
claiming collusion over the pricing of e-books. HarperCollins,
Hachette, and Simon & Schuster settled the charges. Penguin and
Macmillan, along with Apple, declined to settle, though.
According to the Times, Amazon controls about 60 percent of the e-book
market. The price cuts may be good for consumers in the short
term--Forbes estimates the cuts could save consumers $252 million
between now and 2015--but publishers and booksellers caution that its
long-term effects may end up giving Amazon a monopoly on the e-book
market.
Under the traditional bookselling model, publishers sold books for half
the cover price, allowing retailers to set their own store price.
Around the time Apple introduced its first iPad in 2010, though, the
company moved to an"agency" model, where publishers decide the book
price and Apple takes a 30-percent cut. As part of that move, Apple
also reportedly stipulated that publishers couldn't let rival retailers
such as Amazon sell the same book for less, in effect making the agency
model the new standard for much of the industry.
Some of the above information comes from The Slatest. See
http://tinyurl.com/6mwttv5.
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Free Tools for Writers from Bobbie Christmas and Zebra Communications
Order PDF reports on writing-related subjects, including correct
manuscript format, how to form and run a critique circle, how to
identify weak writing and repair it, self-publishing versus traditional
publishing, and much more. Go to
http://zebraeditor.com/free_reports.shtml. Newest report: Genre: A
Slippery Subject Essential to Fiction: Learn about genre fiction
categories and the benefits of complying with genre specifications.
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Terminology Writers Should Know
Mass Nouns
A mass noun (sometimes called a noncount noun) is one that denotes
something uncountable, either because it is abstract [cowardice]
[evidence] or because it refers to an indeterminate aggregation of
people or things [the faculty] [the bourgeoisie]; the latter type is
also called a collective noun. As the subject of a sentence, a mass
noun usually takes a singular verb [the litigation is varied]. But in a
collective sense, it may take either a singular or plural verb form
[the ruling majority is unlikely to share power] [the majority are
nonmembers]. A singular verb emphasizes the group; a plural verb
emphasizes the individual members.
The above information is quoted from The Chicago Manual of Style 16th
Edition, 5.8
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You must read Gene Weingarten's humor column in The Washington Post at
http://tinyurl.com/7h6lngo.
Here's an excerpt:
Perhaps the greatest revelation from the world of books, though, is the
myth of"royalties." Royalties are a theoretical construct, like
the"quark." No one has ever seen a quark, but based on conjecture and
evidence, scientists assure us it is a likelihood. Same with royalties,
which are theoretically based on an amount of money the writer gets per
each book sold. This system theoretically kicks in once sales have paid
back the writer's"advance." In practice this never happens because--and
I want to emphasize this--books do not sell.
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Ask the Book Doctor: How to Beat the Competition and Sell Your Writing
answers many of the questions you wish you could ask an editing expert.
Whether you write books, short stories, articles, reports, or anything
else, learn more about how to write, edit, and sell your work.
Paperback: $14.95 plus $4.99 S & H (total: $19.94 US) E-book: $8.95, no
S & H, with almost instant delivery. You'll save almost $10 by buying
the e-book! To order either, go to http://tinyurl.com/lexp7n.
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April is National Poetry Month
Do you write poetry? Terrific! Do you buy poetry books? If not, you
are not keeping poetry books a vital part of the market. Writing poetry
and not supporting the poetry market is like having a dog and never
feeding him.
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Warning for authors attempting to use Smashwords to publish their
e-books
Members of SPAWN, the Small Publishers, Artists, and Writers Network,
are reporting problems with getting their files to go through
correctly. When they try to get assistance, they find out there is a
two- to four-week backlog before they can even get help. If you are in
a rush to get your e-book out, you may want to find another method,
until Smashwords becomes more efficient.
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NPR reports a terrific interview with Jonathan Gottshall, who admits
that as an English professor, he ignored everything he taught his
students about concise, direct writing and wrote in academic style, to
show off his intelligence. He says,"A few years ago, I started writing
for general readers, not just Ph.D.s. I needed to unlearn my worst
habits." He lists three books that helped him change.
Two out of the three are my favorites, as well--On Writing: A Memoir of
the Craft by Stephen King and On Writing Well by William Zinsser. His
third choice is one I haven't read: Advice to Writers, put together by
Jon Winokur, a collection of quotes. He says, "It's like the trench
wisdom of generations of authors. Mark Twain: When you catch an
adjective, kill it. Hemingway on persistence: He claimed to scrawl 91
clunky pages for every sparkler."
To read the whole article, see
http://m.npr.org/news/front/150306073?page=1.
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Keep up with Bobbie's activities on Twitter:
http:twitter.com/BookDoctor4u
Become Bobbie's friend on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/bobbie.christmas
New! Zebra Communications on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/7vcxaxu.
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Five: Contests, Agents, and Markets
Wisdom of Woodstock Anthology
Call for Personal Experience Essays
Were you living at the time the world came together in peace, love, and
harmony for the infamous Woodstock concert? If so, you have spent
enough years on earth to have learned some valuable lessons and
experienced unique, pleasant, or even unpleasant events that resulted
in wisdom. It is time to share that wisdom in the Wisdom of Woodstock
anthology. We are looking for original personal experience essays that
reveal an incident that resulted in wisdom, revelation, or comfort. For
details, see http://zebraeditor.com/writing_competition.shtml.
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Southern Writers Magazine Short Story Contest
This summer we'll publish a bonus magazine of Southern short stories by
our readers, and we want you to be in it. Whether you're already a
well-known novelist, or a newcomer ready to get in print, the Southern
Writers Short Story Contest is your chance to make your mark on the big
world of short stories.
Any family-friendly subject is welcome, and the guidelines are simple.
1. Your story must take place in a Southern setting or feature a
character from the South.
2. Manuscript must be 1000 words or less, 12 pt Times or Times New
Roman, double-spaced.
3. Your name, email address and mailing address must be on page 1, with
your title and story beginning on page 2.
4. No erotica, profanity or otherwise questionable content will be
considered.
5. Submission and entry fee must be received by 12:01 a.m. May 2, 2012.
(Hurry!)
6. Submit your Word or other text document using the contact form below
these rules.
7. Send your $10 entry fee via PayPal, which will appear once you've
submitted.
See http://www.southernwritersmagazine.com/contest.html for full
details and to submit your stories.
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The BookLogix Fiction Contest encourages adults 18 and older to express
themselves through writing and to consider becoming a published author
regardless of career background or previous writing experience.
Winner will be selected based on originality, creativity, writing
skill, and potential for audience appeal.
One First Place winner will receive a Publishing Prize Package to have
their book published by BookLogix (Maximum total prize value of $5,000)
For details, see https://booklogix.com/FictionContest.html
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Bold Strokes Books
P.O. Box 249
Valley Falls NY 12185
E-mail: publisher@boldstrokesbooks.com
Submission e-mail: submissions@boldstrokesbooks.com
Website: www.boldstrokesbooks.com
Contact: Len Barot, president, Lee Ligon, operations manager, Cindy
Cresap, senior consulting editor and production manager.
Publishes trade paperback originals and reprints, electronic originals
and reprints.
Does not accept simultaneous submissions but does accept submissions by
unagented authors.
Guidelines online at website.
Responds in 1 month to queries, 2 months to proposals, 4 months to mss.
Pays 7-10% royalty on retail price.
60+ published titles per year.
10-20% of titles by first time authors
Publish time after acceptance: Publishes ms 16 months after acceptance.
Nonfiction Needs: gay, lesbian, memoirs, young adult
Submit completed ms with bio, cover letter, and synopsis electronically
only.
"Fiction submissions should have a gay, lesbian, transgendered, or
bisexual focus and should be positive and life-affirming."
Fiction Needs: adventure, erotica, fantasy, gay, gothic, historical,
horror, lesbian, literary, mainstream, mystery, romance, science
fiction, suspense, western, young adult
Submit completed ms with bio, cover letter, and
synopsis--electronically only.
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Diversion Press
P.O. Box 3930
Clarksville TN 37043
E-mail: diversionpress@yahoo.com
Website: www.diversionpress.com
Submission Guidelines: http://tinyurl.com/7v5cfe6
Although we are accepting submissions in many areas, below are areas
that will complement our catalog:
Anthologies:
Poetry
Horror Shorts
These are DP collections from various authors. We do not publish
collections of poetry or shorts from single authors.
Academic Books:
We will consider most humanities and sciences topics. We are especially
interested in academic works on terrorism, The War on Terror, and the
World Wars. We are looking for works on 20th century U.S. and Europe,
Military history, Historical
Biography/Memoirs, International Relations, Globalization/Global
Business, Health Science, Biology, and Biomedical Science.
Academic Supplements and Encyclopedias:
Please send us proposals for essay collections to accompany college
classes or any other academic supplement that you are considering
writing and editing for classroom use. We are also interested in
encyclopedias and dictionaries for high school, college, and general
readership.
Novels
We are interested in a limited number of adult novels. Please do not
send anything with graphic violence or graphic sexual content, nothing
that puts children in a bad light, and nothing overtly religious,
anti-religious, or evolutionary. No romance or westerns. We are
interested in mystery, horror, and suspense.
Please note that we will not accept works that are sexually explicit.
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Six: Got Muse?--Dumb Decisions
My dog loves to stand on my back deck and bark at every squirrel, bird,
sound, or imaginary beast. My neighbors are not happy about the
barking, and neither am I. At the pet store, I found a device called
something like Barkoff. The packaging said that when the dog barks, the
device emits a high-pitched sound beyond human hearing, but within a
dog's hearing range. The sound annoys the dog when he barks, said the
package, so he won't bark anymore. With confidence, I plunked down my
ten dollars and tax and took the box home. I installed a battery in the
device, put it on the deck with the dog, and turned it on. The dog went
on barking as if nothing happened. Ten dollars down the drain. How
could I even tell if the device worked? That device might be the
stupidest purchase I've ever made.
Everyone of toddler age and above has made some dumb decisions. Buying
a device that I have no way of testing to see if it works is only one
of mine. Think of a dumb decision you've made and write a story about
it.
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Do YOU have news for The Writers Network News? Please send it in the
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15th of each month.
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Send a copy of this newsletter to all your writing friends. Tell them
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