http://springycom.gather.com Recent Articles on Gather by John L. en-us Copyright Gather Inc 2009 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:25:52 GMT 2010-01-03T19:25:52Z en-us Copyright Gather Inc 2009 http://www.gather.com/images/header/logo_gather.gif http://www.gather.com/ http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977925751 (continued from Part 01 )   To say that the Two-thousands are ending might seem laughable in the sense that Two-thousands (2000s) also refers to a century and a millennium. Don’t we have . . . Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:52:29 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977925751 John L. 2009-12-01T18:52:29Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977925742   The first decade of this millennium is ending. So isn’t it about time we knew what it was called? (I know that my first statement is technically untrue on the grounds that, since there . . . Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:43:29 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977925742 John L. 2009-12-01T18:43:29Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977808095 INTRODUCTION: This is the first chapter of a novel I'm working on. The genre I would best describe as humorous speculative fiction. Please let me know your thoughts. Would you keep reading? Or, worst . . . Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:02:25 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977808095 John L. 2009-09-11T05:02:25Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977729071 Michael Jackson vs Elvis   Some random, unresearched observations of comparison and contrast. Feel free to comment, correct, and add your own!   SIMILARITIES: Both . . . Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:30:55 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977729071 John L. 2009-07-04T18:30:55Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977720506 Ahmajenidad-Mousavi 2009 vs. Bush-Gore 2000   Some random, unresearched observations of comparison and contrast. Feel free to comment, correct, and add your own!   SIMILARITIES: . . . Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:04:43 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977720506 John L. 2009-06-24T20:04:43Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977661019   The answer to the titular question ought to be obvious—his leaks to Woodward and Bernstein led to the downfall of a presidency. He gave us the first time in the history of our nation that a . . . Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:17:07 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977661019 John L. 2009-04-20T15:17:07Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977623109   This game is based on the idea of Scattergories™, in which players try to think of different words starting with the same letter that fit into a set of categories. In this version, however, . . . Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:07:28 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977623109 John L. 2009-03-13T14:07:28Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977622250   In the last post we examined how adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. And I asked if there were any one adverb capable of doing all three. The answer was in my hint: there’s . . . Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:10:43 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977622250 John L. 2009-03-12T20:10:43Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977618198 This game is based on the idea of Scattergories™, in which players try to think of different words starting with the same letter that fit into a set of categories. In this version, however, there’s only . . . Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:31:09 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977618198 John L. 2009-03-09T12:31:09Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977617389 This game is based on the idea of Scattergories™, in which players try to think of different words starting with the same letter that fit into a set of categories. In this version, however, there’s . . . Sun, 08 Mar 2009 11:55:42 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977617389 John L. 2009-03-08T11:55:42Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977617299 This game is based on the idea of Scattergories™, in which players try to think of different words starting with the same letter that fit into a set of categories. In this version, however, there’s . . . Sun, 08 Mar 2009 06:28:29 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977617299 John L. 2009-03-08T06:28:29Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977617274   You’re anxiously awaiting the response to a manuscript you dutifully submitted for critique, competition, or publication. You’ve labored extensively on meticulously selecting the most incisively . . . Sun, 08 Mar 2009 05:32:32 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977617274 John L. 2009-03-08T05:32:32Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977420684 Previous post: Total Ellipse   In typing ellipses, you might have noticed that three consecutive periods triggers an autocorrect feature in Word. It converts “period-period-period” into . . . Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:14:26 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977420684 John L. 2008-08-13T17:14:26Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977420652 In my last post , I remarked that we were going to look at the most common use of periods in fiction after terminating a sentence: ellipses. First, a clarification. Ellipses is the plural of both . . . Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:34:37 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977420652 John L. 2008-08-13T16:34:37Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977414317 The lowly period is the smallest of all punctuation marks. Easy to overlook Easy to accidentally double.. And those two goofs alone might cost me a publishing contract. But it’s the period’s other . . . Tue, 05 Aug 2008 16:20:38 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977414317 John L. 2008-08-05T16:20:38Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977408836 Here's a quick overview of the helpful articles on grammar and writing now available at The Grammar Weasel : Dangling Participles (series of 2 articles) Participial Phrases Absolute . . . Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:04:35 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977408836 John L. 2008-07-29T14:04:35Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977407884 German may be a tough language to learn, but they did make it easy on us in one aspect: all nouns are capitalized. You never have to beat your Brain against your Skull wondering whether this Word or that . . . Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:44:16 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977407884 John L. 2008-07-28T04:44:16Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977406515 She only wanted him for his body--his dead body. Bored with her job as editor of the classifieds at a weekly tabloid, Valerie Darling turns to the personal ads placed in her paper and plays matchmaker. . . . Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:10:58 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977406515 John L. 2008-07-25T21:10:58Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977406511 PROLOGUE 8:30 p.m. Thursday, September 17 (Brooks University, Winfrey Hall) I'm a single Christian white male, 23, with no car. Please, if you had to reread that, then just . . . Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:06:38 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977406511 John L. 2008-07-25T21:06:38Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977406296 We've done a lot of griping about disappearing homepages, roundabout or impossible navigation, and the degrading of the intelligent article to the post (as in dumb-as-a). (And has nobody even . . . Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:29:16 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977406296 John L. 2008-07-25T15:29:16Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977405568 Feel free to comment, correct, and add your own!   SIMILARITIES Both have costumes prominently featuring red and blue. Both have a secret identity as a reporter / photographer at . . . Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:25:07 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977405568 John L. 2008-07-24T16:25:07Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977404736 Has anyone been able to reach the Gather earnings page since the "Ice" upgrade? I have tried several times, and I get the error: Firefox has detected that the server is redirecting the . . . Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:59:48 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977404736 John L. 2008-07-23T14:59:48Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977403975 The Dialogue Bog   The dialogue bog is where many beginning fiction writers seem to get caught. It's a set of common dialogue problems that mark you as an amateur. They're easy mistakes . . . Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:10:31 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977403975 John L. 2008-07-22T16:10:31Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977403912 The object of this game is to come up with words containing only six consecutive letters of the alphabet. You may repeat letters as often as necessary, and you don't have to use all six letters. . . . Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:49:03 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977403912 John L. 2008-07-22T14:49:03Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977403523 How George W. Bush (GWB) is like William Jefferson Clinton (WJC) You're probably thinking, "Is this guy crazy?" (And you're half right; check out my status!) But you might be surprised . . . Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:19:40 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977403523 John L. 2008-07-21T22:19:40Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977403517 What's the longest word you can make using only five consecutive letters? In other words, pick any five consecutive letters of the alphabet and reuse them as many times as you need. Examples of . . . Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:10:45 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977403517 John L. 2008-07-21T22:10:45Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977403205 The object of this game is to find two compound words whose components are the reverse of each other. Here are two examples to get you started: takeout (as in food) and outtake (as in messed-up . . . Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:01:34 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977403205 John L. 2008-07-21T16:01:34Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977403193 The object of this game is to find a compound word whose components are also a commonly used phrase--preferrably one whose meaning is very different. Here are two examples to get you started: . . . Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:52:59 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977403193 John L. 2008-07-21T15:52:59Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977400219 Most beginning writers use far more words than necessary. It's probably because we all had some junior high English teacher who demanded x-hundred-word essays ("Shakespeare was a very, very, . . . Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:16:44 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977400219 John L. 2008-07-17T17:16:44Z http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977400174 George W. Bush vs. Richard Nixon   Feel free to comment, correct, and add your own!   SIMILARITIES: Republicans Nixon and Bush both won their first terms in razor-close . . . Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:13:06 GMT http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977400174 John L. 2008-07-17T16:13:06Z