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Lara Willard

Write, Edit, Repeat

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Word

Tips on Diction, plus the occasional word that is divine, awkward, or interesting.

DICTION

  • English Word Origins
  • The Diction Holy Grail
  • Diction: Latinate versus Anglo-Saxon
  • Voice: Talk Like a Pirate

WORDS

  • Chraractonym
  • 100 Funniest Words
  • Sprachgefuhl
  • Cacoethes

Any time you see the image below, click it to read the most recent posts in the “Word” feed.

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Hi! I'm Lara. Welcome to my virtual home!

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Let people know you won #70pit17 by adding a GIF badge to your blog or website! #pg70pit Winner #70pit17

Recent Posts

  • Don’t Write Comics (How to Write Comics)
  • 70pit17 Middle Grade Winners
  • 70pit17 Young Adult Winners
  • 70pit17 Adult Winners
  • Task List Trello Board

Top Posts from the Archive

Characters: MBTI continued
Diction: Latinate versus Anglo-Saxon
Character Profile Worksheets
The 8 C's of Plotting: Introduction
The 8 C's of Plotting: Worksheets
POV Part 3—e.g. (examples)
Chapter Outlining like a Pantser
A Lesson in Backstory and Goals
QUIZ: How should you start your novel?
The Quick and Easy Guide to Dashes

Instagram @VerityLane

Wondering why I've been radio silent this summer? Well...this is why. #lightreading My son has always struggled with school, and I've been pushing and advocating to the best of my ability, trying to get him help, for years. In May, the poo emoji really hit the fan, and we switched therapists, enrolled him in a day program for the summer, transferred schools, and booked a psych eval. 🤹‍♀️ A few weeks ago, he had the evaluation, and though the paperwork isn't complete, his evaluator told me he without-a-doubt had ADHD. 🧠💫 So I've been a bit distracted the past few months. He starts school in a couple weeks, so I went to the bookstore and stocked up on some references to supplement all the online articles I've been pinning for months. 📚 Next week I'll be meeting with his team at his new school to figure out his IEP and the accommodations to help him succeed. Then school starts. Then maybe we can attain some semblance of normalcy. I'm so grateful that my summertime editing clients have been understanding through this time. Seriously, my clients are the best. (And hopefully my blog readers will still be around when I finally finish the posts I've been sitting on for 3-4 months.) #adhdmom #neurotypicalisoverrated How can you read, see, or hear stories of suffering and be OK with the current state of the USA? Answer: you can't. Stories, true and fictional, teach us to empathize. You are never too old for stories, and if you think you're too smart for them, you're the polar opposite. Don't trust someone who doesn't read. Be the protagonist. Be on the good side when history books write about the late 2010s and beyond. Buy books for people who don't understand. Even if they never read them, at least you're telling that author and publisher that these stories matter. Choose books written by marginalized writers. MAUS or PERSEPOLIS are visual memoir graphic novels. THE HATE U GIVE is about a teen girl who witnesses her friend killed by police. Torn between the white suburb where she goes to school and her black friends and family, she is also expected to answer why her friend was shot. If you're facing a near lost cause--someone who would only listen to a white man and things that "really happened"--see if you can find Black Like Me, a book written by a white journalist who in 1959 had his skin temporarily darkened so he could experience life as a black person in the deep South. I read it in elementary school, so your friend or family member can probably handle it. My son's Superman ice cream. Because it's Friday and it's been a long week and I don't even care about sugar or artificial coloring if it gets me through to bedtime. All dressed up with no place to go (after a day full of meetings, anyway) #bookishemoji17 Day Two: 😭 The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a story with a hilarious voice, punctuated by death. Hilarious and heartbreaking is my formula for a favorite read, and this definitely is a five-star read. It's like a master class in YA voice, too, FYI. #tearjerker #shermanalexie #absolutelytruediaryofaparttimeindian #emojichallenge #bookstagram #augustchallenge #shereadsYA Excited for the #bookishemoji17 challenge! 🗡 For Day One, I had to go with my first-ever fandom. Sting, Bilbo and Frodo's elven dagger, was what I named my first jump drive. It lit up blue when plugged in. It was a whole gigabyte, people. Big freaking deal considering my dad's I used in high school was 256MG. 🗡🗡🗡 I spent 4 hours rearranging books last night. We moved both tall shelves onto one wall and removed the two short shelves, so it's been an adventure trying to fit everything AND appease the husband, since now we have to work together to style them. He gave some input as to which books of his I had to include and made a red, white, and blue shelf that I only tinkered with the teeniest bit. #geeklove #shelfie #lotrbooks #frodolives #bilbobaggins #lordoftherings #hobbitatheart HOLY ADORABLENESS, BATMAN SOCKS. 🤓😍 If you've ever dreamed of finding the other half of your OTP at a cosplay ball, BUT THIS BOOK. LOVE IT. IT LOVES YOU. Pic: Geekerella surrounded with the Gweekle (geek Qwirkle) tiles my husband and I made, with the Batman crewsocks I bought for said husband with the intention of stealing for myself. Review: 🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠 (P.S. I tagged the author so be nice! I'd be happy to discuss via DM) OK so I have a weakness for Cinderella retellings. The Anime one I grew up with, Ever After, Brandy's, A Cinderella Story, Ella Enchanted (book, and yes, the movie, too), Lily James's... I figured Geekerella would be fun, maybe campy like Hilary Duff's... But good gracious, this was so much fun! The sweetest, cutest book I've read in forever. I read it cover to cover yesterday. I declare this Teen!Me's favorite romance. Elle's box red hair, black squarish brainy specs, wanting to be a screenwriter... that was so me at 19, if I showed you a pick from my Freshman year, you'd think I was an Elle cosplay. And Darien is totally the type of guy I would fall head over heels for. I want this to be a full-feature film, but at the same time, I loved Disney original movies so much as a preteen, and this would be like my favorite Disney Original ever. Even displacing Motocrossed (a retelling of Twelfth Night, which I also can't get enough of). As always, Quirk did an outstanding job with production. I especially love the glitter foil title and end pages from both POVs. #socksunday #geekerella #sockerella #qwirkle #geeksinlove #shereadsya #geekybook #fangirl #cinderellaretelling #quirkbooks #diygames #geekhacks #tabletopgames #excelsicon #con #syfi #trekkie #fandom July's book haul. I'm always very good about buying books until I go to a launch party unencumbered by my children. 😁 Freedom means 💸 Oh yeah, I got each of them a book, too. Not pictured because they made off with them as soon as I got home. 📚😍🤓 Almost done with The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and I picked up The Girl with All the Gifts after one of my teens recommended it to me. I didn't know it was a book; she didn't know it was a movie. But since M.R. Carey is a white dood, this baby is going to have to wait until 2018. Probably reading The Piper's Son next! 😍 #socksunday #summerreads #summerreading #cabinreads #owlsocks #theabsolutelytruediaryofaparttimeindian #thegirlwithallthegifts #bookrecommendation #recommendedtome

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Guest Posts

Better Novel Project
7 TIPS FOR WRITING REALISTIC DIALOGUE

About Me

I've been grading grammar homework since 2005 and editing fiction and poetry since 2008. In 2013, I started editing comics and full manuscripts for novelists and literary agents.

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In 2015, I assembled a team of freelance editors of various specialties.

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