Identify clichés and avoid/revel `in them
Enhance your vocabulary
- Unusual Words
- Test your vocab, feed starving people
- Words David Foster Wallace Circled in His Dictionary That Were Used in Infinite Jest (And Where They Appear)
- Carpe diem - Common Latin phrases
- Peel Your Ears While I Vomit on the Table: Learn to Speak Hipster
Make sure to proofread first
- The “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks
- Pet peeve of mine: Possessives Precede Gerunds
- Common Errors in English Usage
Numbers of Words
- Word Frequency Counter – cut/paste your story and see how often you use certain words
- Phrase Frequency Counter
- How often we use words as a whole
Hypergraphia——Too Many Words?
Make your pictures into words
Consider a new medium
- My friend Billy works here——it’s an excellent site with a lot of poems and info on different forms. Try an Abecedarian
- Screenplays for everything——try writing one, make Hollywood better
Books to inspire you/horrify you into knowing you can do better
- What should I read next? Recommendation Engine
- Awful Library Books
- Read Faster, Learn Harder?
- Hot Guys Reading Books
Next frontier or death to English as we know it?
- Americans text more than they talk
- TEXT FROM LAST NIGHT will honestly rock your world/drive you to suicide
- “When you’re only text friends”
Writing Games/Idea Generators
When you need a break
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p.s. Hey. Today the honorable writer, d.l., and guest-host Postibreakup comes through big time for fellow writers everywhere. Please forage, use the tips, and then have your masterpieces on his or my desk first thing in the morning. Or in a year or so if you need the extra time. Thanks a lot, P., and, yeah, thanks to you out there who plan to dig in today and then talk back to the guy in charge. Things are way too hot here, of course, but good. Another great show with a bizarre ending last night that I'll elaborate on to Itmpw. Here's yesterday's great review of 'TIHYWD' in France's biggest newspaper Le Monde for anyone who's interested. Another show tonight, and our mutual d.l. pals Wolf and Tender Prey arrive in Avignon this afternoon to see the performance and hang out, which will we be cool. Okay, I need to zoom along today for the usual reasons. ** Postitbreakup, Another big up and pennies from heaven-style gratitude for taking over this place so classily today. ** David Ehrenstein, The Outfest panel does sound really good and fun. Strange that there's nothing remotely like Outfest in Paris, but there just isn't anything even close. It sounds like you met the blog's own Frank Jaffe at the Fest without even knowing it. Yeah, I was very pleased by Switzerland's Polanksi decision, quite obviously, and saddened by Pekar's death. Gisele says she knows of 'Tales of Hoffman' but doesn't think she's ever seen it. She says she will, and to thank you for the mention. ** Bernard Welt, Wonderful additional Compton Burnett quote. Avignon is wonderful, both the festival and the town, but, fucking hell. the heat has been staggering. ** Bill, Good that you'll get here in an acclimatized state. It's just the teeny weeniest bit less hot today, hardly noticeable, but we'll take it. Jimmy DeSana! Yeah, he was wonderful in all kinds of ways. I saw him across rooms a couple of times, but never met him. I included his work in a show I co-curated at Pat Hearn Gallery in the 80s, and Pat showed me all kinds of work by him that hadn't been seen, at least at that point. I don't know what became of it. Wow, see you tomorrow, right? ** Alan, Those dang liberals. Wow, you waited quite a while for your ICB post, and it wasn't exactly a whopper. There's not much online from which to make a post about her, very strangely. I'm thinking that with the attention John Waters is bringing to her work, that'll change. ** Trees, Hey, man. I don't know if it was aloe or not. It had a French name. Anyway, I'm almost free to walk non-bow-legged now. When you get a little cash, yeah, Compton Burnett is a singular kind of great. Oh, the crush is really paying off, isn't it? I mean in the literal sense of paying. Or maybe I mean something else. High heat +brain = you tell me. Oh, boy, I would so love a post by you on synth-punk, whch is a real secret garden among my fave musical genres. If you don't mind, that would be just swell, man. What have you been writing? ** Stan_cz, Thanks for poz re: our theater thing. Well, I agree with your first controversial statement. As for the second, how do you define 'met'? For instance, you haven't met (in the classic sense) the people in this community here, but you've spent a good amount of time with their thoughts and ideas and stuff. Well, there are or have been any number of d.l.s who are/were 18 or younger: Panda?, Kyte, October, Morgan, Jake, Marcus Whale, Postitbreakup, Zach German, my nephew Cody, and others I'm sure I'm forgetting. Raise the age limit a year, and you can add Jesse Hudson, 'Stoopid Slapped Puppies', and probably a number of others as well. Certainly you're not going to say those people aren't smart and show interest in culture. So, let's say I quibble with you on the truth of your second statement. I can only speak from my experience, of course, but I would say the great majority of people between the ages of 15 and 18 whom I've spent enough time with to know at all have been very open, smart, cultural, talented, etc. The very interesting students I met with here were neither unusual nor a surprise to me at all, actually. ** Pisycaca, Oh, my utmost pleasure on the Compton Burnett post, M. Yeah, for me, the heat belongs in the desert. In the desert, its great. Everywhere else, fuck it. My rash is better. Some lotion and staying as much as possible in the air-conditioned theater pretty much was the cure. Really nice about the Argentina trip and vacation. Just having that out there as a certainty will help, right? Survive the burning day, and I'll do my best here, and take some cool love from me. ** Wolf, I guess I'll probably see you before you see this. If not, yeah, call me, and we'll meet up in some shady or unnaturally chilled spot asap. Counting the minutes. ** Killer Luka, No, I've been carefully tippy-toeing around the owl poop. It was the pure heat that got me. Fuck, fantastic new drawing! Everyone, here's another new drawing by the uber-great artist and d.l. Killer Luka, this one entitled 'TeenBoyGaySexII'. You simply must click this. You simply must. ** Creative Massacre, Hey, pal! You good? How have you been? Thanks for ordering my book, of course, and I hope you like it, of course. I'm good, just crazy busy with our theater piece right now, burning alive in the fierce heat here in southern France, and looking forward to getting back to slightly cooler Paris so I can get to work of my long neglected novel again. Really good to see you! ** L@rstonovich, That's what google did to the review? No, I got a slightly less clunky but also less detailed translation by Gisele. Yeah, I don't want to brag, but it's a pretty damned good theater piece, I have to say. Thanks, man. ** Steevee, The rash is retreating into some benign compartment inside my skin, thank goodness, and thank you. Ace on the two accomplished tasks, especially the new AC. I'll head over to that Slayer pinball thing in a bit. Does it work on iPhone? Everyone, courtesy of Steevee, Slayer pinball on iPad. ** Joseph, Your mother actually texted you that? Cool mom there. Heck, a mom who texts is cool in itself, I guess. Do all moms text nowadays? Wait, you got fired from or quit the pizza place? You don't seem too out of joint as result. Me, I'm doing as well as a guy who is slowing being cooked alive could be doing. And you? ** Statictick, You're scaring me with that 100 degree apartment. Scaring me because I'm spending every night in one, and when I'm not, I try to pretend I don't. Concert of Colors is such a corny name. It must have been around for a long time. Anyway, dude, enjoy everything completely! ** Changeling, Oh, man, sorry you had to leave your seaside getaway, not to mention the teeth thing. My teeth are fucked up too -- broken in two places -- and I'm trying to ignore that until I'm screaming for an ambulance. Did that mosquito-tiger hybrid monster get you at the beach? Sometimes I think beaches are really creepy. Imagine all the bad stuff that's slid into and underneath the sand over all the centuries and crumbled into innocent looking bits of 'sand'. It would make a great bad horror movie. 'The Sand'. If the horror genre could pull off 'The Fog' and 'The Mist' like they did, they could pull off 'The Sand'. ** Will Decker, Greetings, Will! Good to see you. Dude, this heat, you bet, I hear you. Ugh! Hm, now I'll have to do google maps on our locale here and see if its students are mine. Interesting. Thank you about the rash. It certainly is possible that stress contributed or weakened my immune system or something. You take care, Will, and I hope somehow you'll get to see 'TIHYWD". Now that you'll be in Chicago, it's not impossible. ** Chris, Hey. Yeah, that sounds okay and logical to me if Travis is game. See what he says, and then we can hopefully proceed, and if I get to come over, we can sort out the if and when and all that later. Beginning of August might not be possible for me anymore at this point, I'm not sure. Anyway, yeah, I'm glad things are moving along, and I hope we can nail this thing down. ** Ken Baumann, Hi, Ken! Glad you liked it, man. Yeah, it's been wild here. Every night, something crazy happens, but the success part is pretty sweet. You sound like you're up to a lot of really great stuff. The novel progress is very, very pleasing to hear, naturally. Oh yes, the short film, I remember. Cool. How do you like writing dialogue? Is it something you feel particularly keen about and/or interested in doing and/or challenged by in an intriguing way and/or ... ? Your description makes it sound most intriguing. I want to see 'Predators'. Why not, you know? Curious about 'Inception' too, I think. You always inspire, man, and you've done it yet again. Have a less cluttered, more jazzily packed day. ** Sypha, Thanks a lot, James. I mean that you liked 'SiH'. It means a lot. Oh, crap, yeah, go get checked out and treated today, okay? And let me know what they say and how it goes. I'm against the death penalty, but if some mystical force gave this summer the death penalty, I would not complain. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Glad you liked the post. Thanks! I don't think you should watch more mainstream things. Why in the world should you do that, you know? The mainstream is only there for the picking when you have no other choice, I think. Cocoa butter ... hm, I would guess they have that here. Anyway, my rash is dying as I type. My collaborator Stephen bought me a Chinese paper fan. I'm fluttering it at myself whenever no one is watching. My friends who are into 'True Blood' and watch it all the time have been telling me it's getting worse and worse, and they might just give up on it. And yet you and others here seem not to be finding any new problems with it. Curious. I'll have to find out what song you couldn't get out of your head later. The internet here wavers between pretty good and barely functioning, and it's in the latter phase this morning, so I dare not make or click any links with videos at the other end. Sounds like a bad copy of 'Chelsea Girls'. Might as well wait and hope for a better situation. I suggest you try 'Lonesome Cowboys' if you can find a decent copy of it. It even kind of has a story and everything. My day: Hid out in the theater all day except for a trip to the pharmacy, supermarket, and a coffee in the shade. We had to test all the technical stuff in our piece to make sure it was working after our day off. As I've mentioned, the piece has two trouble spots that we need to fix, namely two too long blackouts where things are moved on- and offstage. The first one has this fog display thing happening, so it's not as problematic, but the second one is just a black out. Yesterday, Gisele got the idea that we could put a row of hidden fans across the top/front of the stage and, during that blackout, we'd turn them on and blow wind at the audience. (They already get partly covered in fog two times). So, that might just work, but we won't be able to do that until after Avignon, if we end up doing it. Anyway, there was the performance. It was probably the best one yet, but then, right before the ending during the quiet last scene with the birds, someone in the audience started yelling very loudly (in English; he was British),'Take your hands off me! Get away from me! Stop touching me! I need to get out of here! All of you, stop touching me! ...' Etc. On and on. He stood up and smashed his way out of his seat yelling at everyone to stop touching him. Meanwhile, security came and dragged him away screaming. Meanwhile, our piece ended, and, basically, no one saw it since they were all trying to see what the screaming and noise was about. So, that was fucked up. Weirdly, even with that total destruction of our piece's ending, when the performers finally came out for their bow, they got the wildest, best response we've ever had. Standing ovation, cheering, the whole shebang. And a bunch of people rushed up to Gisele and Stephen and Peter and me in our perch in the technical booth crying and telling us how incredible it was and stuff. That hadn't happened before either. It was totally surreal, but, you know, great. I get the feeling that with the great reviews and all the great buzz, the audiences are starting to come in more prepared to see something very unconventional or something. Anyway, after that we had some beers and stuff at a bar, and I went back to my place, crashed, the usual. That was the day. And your Tuesday began and ended how? ** Nb, Hey. Birthday in LA? Hm, okay, well, I have a few days to dwell on that and try to suggest something, and, so, I will. I hear the heat in LA is not that monstrous relatively speaking. Hock a big, nasty loogie at Arizona for me while you're passing through it. ** Misanthrope, Remind me to never invite you to collaborate with Gisele and me. Haha, just kidding, kind of, but kind of also not kidding. Our work is all about the subtle, man. I'm also kidding and not kidding there too. Maybe you could choreograph our encores. ** Frank Jaffe, Hey, Frank! It does indeed sound like you and LA are becoming fast and even intimate friends. I'm regretting missing Outfest. Like I told David, there is no Parisian equivalent, which is really weird to me. There's a queer film festival thing every year, but it's kind of half-assed. I will definitely go check out your Facebook album as soon as I log on there today. Great! Oh, I did see that earlier comment at the time you posted it. Maybe my response got lost in the ether you describe, I can't remember what I said. Probably lots of 'cool' and 'cool!' and 'awesome!'. You know me, ha ha. ** Tao Lin, Hi, Tao! Pleasure to see you! No, I don't have plans for a Twitter account. Oh wait, I think I set one up months ago and never logged back in again. Should I? I don't know if I have the time. Doesn't it take a lot of time? Oh, while I've got you, you cannot imagine how excited I am to read 'Richard Yates'. Glad you're liking 'SiH'. Take care, Tao, and thank you a lot for stopping by. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Tuli Kupferberg died?! I didn't know that. Oh, that is very sad. That sucks, that really sucks. How I loved your dream! Still love it. If it were shorter, I'd repost it even. Hm .. Everyone, The Dreadful Flying Glove had an amazing dream that has the DC's stamp of approval, and it's near the bottom of yesterday's comments section, if you want a treat. ** Brendan, Oh yes, Ms. Compton Burnett is a writer every self-respecting lover of lit should read or at least try to read at least once. Not a writer for everyone, I suppose, but, if you get into her thing, oh shit, is it great. Influenced my writing for absolutely sure. When are you off to Vegas? Are you staying on the Strip? Where? ** 新順, You have completely redeemed yourself after your last several lackluster spams with the doozy of a sentence you gave us today. At least for today, you get a bow. ** Math, I have to say you had one of the best sounding days ever yesterday. I mean, wow. And in that heat no less! Dang. My rash is nearly not a problem anymore, but I'm going to try to be in semi-vampire mode for the next few days, which will be impossible basically. Okay, gotta go, but love to you Mathster. ** I apologize for how late this post is appearing. I had forgotten that Gisele and I were supposed to do a public talk at the art school here, and I was dragged out to do that right near the end of the p.s. I returned to finish it hours later. The post might be a little later tomorrow too 'cos we have a radio thing and a live TV interview tomorrow. Anyway, see you then, and turn your full attention to Postitbreakup's gift until then please. Thanks, see ya, and later.
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