Writing Pet Peeves: Waxing Loquatious

May I just say that this is embarrassing? 

It would appear that I have been walking around with the proverbial spinach stuck in my literary teeth and not a single one of my several writer friends who read this blog have told me about it!  Friends don't let friends walk around with spinach in their teeth!  And they have let me walk around like this for months.  At least since the beginning of my foray into blogging and figured out a name for the blog.

Which makes me wonder: do they misspell the same words I misspell?  I think maybe they do because surely someone would have told me by now!  Or at least they should have.

V?  Allene?  Katie?  Gina?  Kurt?

Even the folks here who are not my friends who are waiting for me to say something that they can use to poke fun at my expense have not mentioned it on this or my other blog.  But that may be because they have declared a moratorium among themselves for commenting on my blog.  They have not mentioned it in their usual writing forum so I suspect that it has escaped their notice as well.

The embarrassing part is that I am my own writing pet peeve.  Yup I am fallible and I misspell words.  I can't blame this one on a typo.  I jumped right in with both feet! 

Have you figured it out yet?

I fixed it last week.  Did any of you notice?

Let me know when you do.

Writing Pet Peeves: "To Hone in"

This is one used by the well educated and the undereducated alike.  I have seen it commonly used on social networks, in common everyday conversation, in many online forums, but it is most disheartening when I find it in professionally edited and published books, unless the author indended for a character to misuse the term in dialog.  And even in that case it's a lame excuse.

Hone can be used as a noun or a verb, but is most often misused as a verb.  I'm guessing that the misuse of this word is because it is only one letter off the correct word, and therefore can be easily confused when heard in in speech.

Hone: Noun:

1.  A whetstone with a fine abrasive texture used for sharpening razors, knives and other sharp tools.
2.  A precisoin tool used to bore or enlarge holes to exact dimensions.

Hone: Verb:

1.  To sharpen on a hone (whetstone):  He honed his knife.
2.  To bore, enlarge or finish a hole with a hone. 
3.  To make more effective or acute, to sharpen, improve or perfect one's skills.  The lawyer honed her argument.

And definitions that have fallen out of usage:

1.  Followed by for or after: To yearn or pine: He honed after the life on the farm he left behind; She honed after a piece of homemade pecan pie.
(This usage is found more in the Southern United States.)

2.  To moan or grieve: She honed for her stilborn child.

Used incorrectly where the word home is meant: This device makes it easier to home in (not hone in) on the target. 

The Correct Usage:

Home: Noun:  This context only:

1.  Target, goal.

Home: Verb:

1. (Of guided missiles, aircraft, etc.): To proceed, especially under the control of an automatic aiming mechanism toward a specific target; usually followed by in on:  The missile homed in on the target. 

Homing: Adjective: 

1.  Capable of returning home, usually over a great distance, as a homing pigeon.
2.  Guiding or directing homeward or to a specific location, as a homing instinct, or homing device.

It grates to hear or read about a person "honing in on" a particular place or thing, especially when there are no sharp objects in sight.  Not even a wit.

A Lesser Known US Holiday

Today is a lesser known US holiday.  But I believe it's just as important as the Independence Day we celebrate every 4th of July.  Today is Constitution Day.  Just as important as gaining our independence from England, is the Constitution by which our country is governed.

Our Founding Fathers spent a lot of time and putting a lot of thought into that document.  Thousands of soldiers have given the ultimate sacrifice defending the principles of governance laid out in therein.  Every soldier, sailor, marine and airman takes an oath to protect and defend our Constitution.  Our elected officials swear to govern by the Constitution, and our Supreme Court judges by it.

How did you observe the day?  Did you read your copy of the Constitution?  If you did read it you may be wondering how we've allowed our elected officials deviate so far from its straightforward simplicity and expanded it to mean things our Founding Fathers never intended. 

Maybe it's about time we started teaching our children and grandchildren the Constitution.  Public education is lacking in that department and we have no one to blame but ourselves for the deviations from the original intent by our lawmakers.

It's our civic responsibility.

Small government, fiscal responsibility and free markets.

Writing Pet Peeves - "Use to" And "Suppose to"

This is another one seen frequently on social network sites.  Again, it is a case of people writing the way they speak, and words are not often spelled the way they are said.  Enunciation tends to be a problem, but that is a small part of how some words are commonly misspelled.

"Supposed to" - commonly misspelled "suppose to"

This one is tricky because it is an idiom.  People mistakenly misspeak and misspell this one because the correct usage and the incorrect usage sound so much alike and many who say it and attempt to write it have not often read it in context.

The idiom refers to a supposition that has been made (hence the past tense) about someone or something.

Meanings: 
Intended to -  This gift was supposed to (intended to) be for John.
Believed to - He is supposed to (believed to) be out of town.  What is he doing here?
Expected to - You are supposed to (expected to) be home by midnight.
Required to -  I'm supposed to (required to) call home to check in by eleven o'clock.

Not supposed to: not permitted - You're not supposed (not permitted) to be in there.

"Used to" is prone to same common misuse as "supposed to."  (Use to.)

This phrase is also an idiom, and is used in the past tense.

Meanings:
Accustomed to or habituated to - I'm not used to (accustomed to, habituated to) this cold weather
Formerly - That used to be (was formerly) a nice hotel before it fell into disrepair.

We are supposed to use grammar correctly in writing and speaking.  Although we used to write and spell these two idoms correctly in days gone by, social networking, texting and tweeting has all but put an end to their correct usage.  More's the pity.

ORV Riders' Selfish Disregard

This post has been moved to http://htwatchdog.blogspot.com/2010/09/orv-riders-selfish-disregard.html

Word to the Wise...

This post has been moved to http://htwatchdog.blogspot.com/2010/09/word-to-wise.html

Special Thanks to Michigan Moto Mania

This post has been moved to http://htwatchdog.blogspot.com/2010/09/special-thanks-to-michigan-moto-mania.html

Writing Pet Peeves: "Mute Point"

Mute Point.

Pardon me?  Are you sure you meant to say "silent point"?  Think about that for a minute, and let it sink in.  What is a mute point?  Is it a point left unexpressed because it is silent?  Does the silence of the point mean there really is no point at all?  If you are a person who makes mute points, what do you mean by that term?

You meant to say "irrelevant point", did you not? 

It is disheartening to say that today's pet peeve is made by otherwise reasonably educated people who should know better.  I have heard this one and seen it in writing one too many times.  I cringe when I hear it coming out of the mouth of a normally literate and articulate professional person.  When I hear it in speech, it makes me want to stand up and rudely interrupt the speaker and ask, "Was it a deaf point too?"  I want to grab a red pen and bleed on offending lines in written work.  When I read it online, usually in a blog post or in a journalistic article I want to tear my hair out. 

I don't understand why people who usually write well commit this one.  The only thing I can figure is they have heard and not read it and assumed the word they heard was "mute", and not "moot". 

I am sure that they would be upset to know that they are abusing the language as they are usually educated enough not to want to sound stupid.

Those undereducated rarely make points, either moot or mute.  This is a term foreign to their usage.

But for those who in the future would like to make their points correctly:

Mute =
1) adj. silent, not speaking
2) adj. incapable of speech
3) n.  One incapable of speech
4) n. a device to deaden the resonance of a musical instrument
5) Transitive verb to deaden the resonance of

Moot =
1) adj. debatable, open to discussion
2) adj. of little or no practical value
3) adj. irrelevant, of no significance
4) adj. hypothetical
5) v. to present or introduce for discussion
6) v. To reduce or remove the practical significance of
7) n. Assembly of people in early England exercising political, administrative and judicial powers
8) n. An argument or discussion of a hypothetical case

For our purposes, a moot point is a debatable point or an irrelevant point, or a point of little or no practical value.   There is no such thing as a mute point.

Harleys Part 2

This post has been moved to http://ironhorsemusing.blogspot.com/2010/09/shoppiong-for-harleys-part-2.html

As We Celebrate...

As we celebrate Independence Day,  Let us not call it by it's date; rather let us call it by its significance.  For all who are citizens of the United States of America, it is a day to be remembered.  It should be remembered at this time in our nation's history lest we allow our government to forge greater bonds of tyrrany than those broken by our Founding Fathers.

By way of remembrance, I am posting the Preamble of the Declaration of Independence.  Let us never forget:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.


We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

-That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,


- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.


Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.


But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.


- Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.


The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.


To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

November is a good time to begin to provide new Guards.

The Writing Process: Computer or Longhand?

There is an interesting article from yesterday's Slate by Jan Swafford called Bold Prediction Why E-books Will Never Replace Real Books.

In this article, Mr. Swafford discusses the what the late Marshall McLuhan had to say about media and its effect on society.

Later in this same article, Mr. Swafford tells about his experience as a teacher of college writing classes, and his own writing process.  He contrasts writing first drafts on a computer screen and longhand drafts, and the benefits of the latter.

It was this part of the article that particularly interested me because, while I like the speed of writing on a computer, I find that onscreen editing, even after using spell check and grammar check, is a challenge.  There is always something I miss.  The cut and paste feature of word processing has saved me much time, and has helped me to organize my thoughts, but I much prefer to write out lengthy pieces in longhand.

The longhand process slows me down and helps me to order my thoughts better on paper.  I find that there are more picturesque turns of phrase in my longhand drafts than in those processed on the computer.  I find, as does Mr. Swafford, that punctuation is more easily applied in longhand.  But at some point, my handwriting has to be deciphered for my target audience.

There are times when, in my writing process, I use a combination of both.  Word processing is for the more technical aspects of what I'm writing.  It is good for sequencing events in a plot outline.  It is also good for moving phrases, entire sentences and paragraphs to a different place on the page. 

Wherever I begin, there always ends up being an editing draft, word processed and printed out in hard copy.  Final edits are best done on a hard copy and not onscreen, at least for me.

The creative part is best done in longhand.  The clean up is best done on the computer.  The fine tuning is best done on a hard copy and then fixed on the computer.

No matter how many times I edit my blog posts onscreen, I still have to go back and fix someting.

I don't know how writers did it before the advent of word processors.  Typewriters were so unforgiving.

If any of you are still out there reading, I'll be interested to know which you prefer in your writing process.

HT:  Katie

Shopping For Harleys

This post has been moved to http://ironhorsemusing.blogspot.com/2010/09/shopping-for-harleys.html

Writing Pet Peeves: "Would of, Could of, Should of"

"Would of, Could of, Should of"

This latest offense was seen, not for the first time, on facebook. 

I suppose I should've been happy that the offender chose to express himself, but if one is going to use poor grammar, then one should not write at all for public consumption.  Ah, vanity. 

The problem with contractions is they're spoken more than they're written.  I have an aversion to using many contractions when I write because I had it drummed into me in English Composition class that words shouldn't be contracted in writing unless used in dialog.  This makes it more difficult to learn from reading in context, as many writers shunned the use of contractions in formal writing.  That was back in the day.

Just ask the members of my writers' group.  I dislike contractions in their writing too. 

I see more contractions in the prose of contemporary works. 

However, I suspect that the sum total of the offending writer's reading experience is found in pop culture.  People are beginning to write the way they speak.  Twitter and texting are  wreaking havoc (!) with spelling and grammar.

I learned about contractions when I was in what used to be called "grammar school"  I know I'm dating myself, but again I ask, what are they teaching in English class these days?

Karen's unofficial grammar class for today, for those who care:

Contractions really are for speaking.  They're there to make two words easier to pronounce when used together.

Would have  = would've
Could have = could've
Should have = should've

I suppose I should've taken it in stride.  I could've overlooked it.  But that would've gone against my grain. 

Those last three sentences go against my grain too.  In fact, it almost killed me to write this piece.  **sigh**

The Rich Man In the Midst of His Pursuits Will Pass Away

I have to say that I admire less and less the glitterati and beautiful people who entertain us.  Especially when they open their mouths and start talking politics.  These folks use their celebrity as a pulpit from which to spew their liberal ideas that have no basis in the moral underpinnings with which I was raised and passed along to my children.  They are the walking dead and they are making disciples of the weak-minded people who idolize them on the big screen, on the small screen, on the radio and on mp3 players.

The cult of celebrity has a very strong following here in the USA.

Having said that, celebrities are dropping like flies.  In the last several weeks a now grown up child actor, a Golden Girl, a gorgeous singer and actress who refused to by stereotype cast and  a well- know older actor have all lived out their appointed days and kept their appointments with death.  I don't know their spiritual state of affairs, but I hope they knew the Lord.

No amount of wealth or beauty or fame will get you out of that appointment.

James tells us, "...the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.  For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will pass away."

It is hard to find humility within the cult of celebrity.  They grasp at everything to keep the beauty from fading.  Unfortunately, they set the example for their admirers.  Personally, I find little to admire.

In this fallen world we wax old and our outer beauty fades.  but our inner spiritual beauty, which only comes from knowing and walking in Christ radiates on our faces.  We too will keep our appointments with death, but because we are in Christ, He has overcome death, our last enemy, and so shall we. 

Let us pray for our countrymen that they are ready for their appointment when the end of their days arrives.

The Thunder Rolls

This post has been moved to http://ironhorsemusing.blogspot.com/2010/09/thunder-rolls.html

Writing Pet Peeves: "Despite of"

First, an apology to my readers, all three of you, for not posting in so long.  My writing skills were required elsewhere for the larger part of this month.  I will endeavor to produce more on the blog in the future, with fewer breaks between postings.

Now on to the latest writing pet peeve.  This one comes courtesy of a local restaurant.  There is construction going on next door to them, so they posted a sign that read, "Despite of the construction next door, we are still open."

My inner Grammar Nazi cringed when I saw it.  The incorrect grammar on display is a combination of two grammatically correct ways to say the sentence.

Correct: 1: "Despite the construction next door, we are still open."


Correct 2: "In spite of the construction next door, we are still open"

We have a redundancy of prepositions.  "Despite" is a preposition.  So is "of".  The purpose of a preposition is to show the relation between a noun or a pronoun and another word.  Despite relates the openness of the business with the construction next door.  The "of" has nothing to do with it. 
 
The phrase "in spite of" means "notwithstanding".
 
I am sure the writer of the sign had good intentions.  I see signs such as this one as a product of poor education in the English language.  These things were once taught in elementary and middle school English class.  It makes me wonder what they are teaching in English class these days.  Grammar does not seem to have a high priority.
 
I suspect that it also has to do with time spent reading.  Today's students spend more time on other pursuits, so there are fewer opportunities to see correct grammar used in context.
 
Ah well, poor grammar notwithstanding, I shall continue to eat at the restaurant.

What Illegal Immigrants and Unruly Children Have In Common

My friends and relatives who have or have had small children know this about me: I have a house rule. I don't tolerate bad behavior from unruly children, especially not in my own home. I didn't tolerate it from my own children when they were living under my roof, and I certainly will not tolerate it from any other little visitors who come to my house, whether a friend of my child's, a young cousin or the child of a friend. The house rule is: If you don't make your child behave in my house, I will. And I really don't much care if you're sitting right there next to me or not. If you fail to act, most assuredly I will deal with the situation. The caveat to that is, if you don't like it, leave your children home until they learn to behave better, or don't come to my house at all if they must come with you.

Now, having said that, I was one of those mothers bucking for the title of "Meanest Mother In The World." Just ask my now grown children. They will also tell you that I will not hesitate to deal with any errant grandchildren should the need arise. But having seen both of them as babysitters, I expect that I will not have to be the "Meanest Grandmother In The World" because my children will both be in the running for the "Meanest Parent" awards in their respective categories. Their tolerance for unruly children is about the same as mine.

As the Meanest Mother, I did not take my children out to dinner in public until they had acquired some manners. They knew that I expected them to be on their best behavior at other people's houses, and if they got out of line, I corrected them on the spot, and burdened my hosts with neither having to do my job for me nor enduring any wild hellions that belonged to me while wondering when we would finally leave them in peace.

I'll bet you're wondering what this has do to with illegal immigrants. I'm so glad you asked.

Arizona is the host of a rather large group of unruly children in the form of illegal immigrants. The parent who needs to be slapped in this situation is the Federal Government. They may have laws governing illegal immigrants and their disposition, but they are loath to enforce their own laws. These illegal and unruly children are running amuck and out of control, and finally the weary host has had to say to the indulgent parent, "Enough is enough! Since you are unwilling to deal with your unruly children and make them behave," or in this case make them reap the consequences of being in this country and in the state of Arizona - Arizona's house - illegally, "I will." As can be expected, Father Obama and Mother Congress are crying foul. And what horrible people the good folks from Arizona are who do not want to endure the illegal behavior of the unruly children for one minute longer.

Well, I for one say it's about time. This is not about race, it is about coming in the front door like my immigrant grandparents did, and not sneaking in the back door like thieves. For make no mistake, those who are in this country illegally are thieves. They are stealing form the American taxpayers and their figurative parents are helping them do it. Those who would play the race card with regard to this issue are doing the exact thing they accuse those of us who are fed up with the illegal immigrants. They are the ones stirring up hate for political gain.

I find illegal immigrants just as distasteful as unruly children. I find well behaved children a delight to be around just as I find legal immigrants to be the bedrock upon which this nation was built, and some of the greatest contributors to our society and our country. Those who come in the back door are hyphenated Americans. Those who come in the front door fully embrace America and all she stands for, and they assimilate. They are a delight to have as friends and neighbors.

Write That!!

Mitchell and Webb are two of the best British comics ever.  They have done one of the funniest skits I have seen on YouTube.  It speaks to the frustration of writers trying to please editors, publishers and agents. I watch this every now and then to maintain perspective and a sense of humor. Write That!!  For all of my writer friends who could use a good laugh.  Enjoy!

Mountain Meditation

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever. Hebrews 13:8


In four years that I lived in Bavaria in the foothills of the Alps, I spent much of my prayer and meditation time walking on a path that took me through the woods and on narrow lanes between cow fields and finally through a small village before I made my way home. It was my daily ritual. From almost any point on that walk I had a view of the local mountains.

Each year I watched the seasons unfold upon the face of those mountains in four stanzas. In the springtime, the forest trees burst into pastel color on the side of the mountains, and then came the greening of the spring leaves in a verdant carpet up the side of the mountains to the top of the tree line.

There were many spring days when clouds covered the craggy faces of the mountaintops. There were other days when the fog was so thick I couldn’t see the mountains, yet I knew they were there. That was a great comfort to me on those days.

Summer brought cloudless indigo skies against the mountaintops and the deepening of the deciduous trees on the mountainside. One of my favorite times of the day to walk was daybreak, when the morning air still carried a dewy chill. I usually began just before the first rays of morning sun lit the peaks in pink flame. As I walked, I watched the sunbeams creep down the side of the mountain until they warmed my way.

Sometimes I walked at twilight and watched the shadows climb the steep faces until at last the mountains were overtaken by darkness. I couldn’t see the mountains, but it was a comfort to me to know they were there in the darkness.

Summer waned and I watched the mountains don the golden vestments of autumn. More and more often I could see my breath as I walked and the dew became frost in the morning. The mountainside grew more gray as the trees shed their leaves. Even the evergreen trees took on a gray hue.

By this time of year I began watching for the first snow to fall on the mountain. At first it looked like a powdered sugar dusting close to the top, then there would be more white as the snowline marched its way down to the tree line and then into the valley. Often in the winter I woke up to snow coming down in big fluffy flakes. On those days, I could not see the mountains, but I knew they were there. It was a great comfort to me.

On other days the sky itself was a white reflection of the mountains beneath it. But for their rocky faces, it was hard to tell where the mountains ended and the sky began. On sunny days, the crisp air sparkled from the mountain snow.

I saw those mountains almost every day I lived in their foothills, and every day they were different, yet always the same. Every day there was a new aspect of those mountains to see. They were always there, even when I could not see them.

The more I thought about it, the more I saw that those mountains were an illustration of my relationship with God. Every day is a new day, with new aspects of God revealed along the way. He never changes I am learning new things about Him every day. He is there on the rainiest and darkest of my life’s days, in the morning and at the twilight of my life. I know He is there even though I cannot see Him, and that is a great comfort to me.

Lord, thank You for being the same yesterday, today and forever, and for being there when I cannot see you. Amen

Correct Grammar is Not Politically Correct

This is another pet peeve of mine.  Grammar and gender.  English is already one of the most gender neutral languages, and yet the PC police continually endeavor to gender neutralize it even more.  I chalk this up to a poor education in the area of language arts.  Many high school graduates cannot pass a grammar test these days; a deplorable state of affairs, if you ask me.  But then most people who use poor grammar do not speak a foreign language. 

What do grammar skills have to do with speaking a foreign language?  I'm so glad you asked.

As a student of several foreign languages, I was surprised to discover that the best grammar class I ever took was my French class in high school, and then my German and Spanish classes.  Surpassing all of them was the Russian course I took at the Defense Language Institute.  In matters of grammar, foreign languages assign gender to every single noun, animate or inanimate. 

English only assigns gender to animate objects based on actual gender.  Rarely is the gender neutral  "one" used , usually to make generic statements: "One should never make assumptions."  French also uses the generic "one".  In most other instances, a noun is either male or female.  Groups of people are masculine if only one member of the group is male.  The pleural masculine pronoun is used.  If all members are female, then the group is feminine and uses the pleural femine pronoun.  Never once have I heard of any French speaking feminists getting all hot and bothered about sexist grammar usage, but I have heard many American English speaking feminists decry sexist language. 

Correct grammar is sexist and not politically correct.  In my opinion, trying to force grammar into today's politically correct social mores shows a lack of proper education in the English language.  But it surely makes one more acceptable with the "in"crowd of educrats, politicos and glitteratti who are currently running our country into the ground.

Russian and German both have a neuter gender to keep track of.  But the grammar rules regarding the masculine and feminine genders of both languages are the same as those in French.  Speakers of these languages have no problems with their politically incorrect and sexist grammar rules.  Once again, it is only American English apeakers who get into grammatical gender bending to satisfy some political or social agenda.  If they only knew how ridiculous they sound, they might be motivated to learn English and quit mistaking their supposed enlightenment for a decent education.

A Grateful Heart

I did it again: walked away from a blessing from God without a word of thanksgiving either on my lips or in my heart. The fact that it was not in my heart upset me more than my lack of manners. Was I grateful? Apparently not enough.

I took God for granted.

I needed to cultivate a grateful heart. The first thing I did was to ask God, the Author and Finisher of my faith, to grow it in me. Then I asked Him to show me how to cooperate with His work in me. I didn’t want to pay Him lip service; I wanted a truly grateful heart.

He showed me how quick I am to feel resentment when He doesn’t do something I have asked of Him, or when His answer is, “Wait.” He showed me how much I feel cheated when something for which I have asked Him is not forthcoming. He made me see how prone to anger I am when the hand of grace is also the hand that chastens me. He made me face the blame I have harbored toward Him for my losses. All of these emotions controlled me. They had no place in a grateful heart.

He made me understand that gratitude is an attitude, not a feeling. Was I able to give Him thanks in everything, as Paul exhorted the Thessalonians? Or was my thanksgiving limited to those things that benefited me? Could I thank Him when things do not go my way? He taught me that if I look for it, even in the direst of circumstances, there is always one thing for which to be grateful. I may not feel thankful, but it is important to thank Him anyway. I learned to say with Job, “Shall I accept good from God and not accept adversity?”

Another area that needed work was misdirected thanksgiving. I had been giving thanks to everyone but God for the blessings in my life. It is easy to thank my neighbor for a blessing of kindness, but it never occurred to me to thank God for the neighbor whose kindness blessed me.

Gratitude must be exercised in order to grow. With regular practice, gratitude grows and moves from the head, to the will, to the heart. When this happens, emotion accompanies thanksgiving, but it is not in control. Then the heart will be grateful, and out of the grateful heart will naturally spring thanksgiving, which rightly belongs to God.

April is Confederate History Month in Virginia

Virginia's Republican governor, Bob McDonnell reinstated Confederate History Month, a decision that has already stirred up controversy. Since history is in the eye of the beholder, and the winners of the conflicts get the honor of writing the history books, I have an interesting perspective on some of this history.

I was raised in upstate New York, and could not have had a more Northern Yankee perspective of the "Civil War." Those bad Southerners went to war with their northern neighbors for the right to own and keep slaves. That was the whole point of the war.

If a lie or a half-truth is repeated often enough and loud enough, people will start to believe it; and after a century, the Northern view is the prevailing view of the Civil War.

After I left home and joined the army, and later married a soldier, I continued my higher education in Germany. By the time I took an American History class, I discovered that there was nothing civil about it. In my textbook, it was called by a more neutral and apropos name - "The War Between the States." I also learned that it was not as simple as the issue of slavery. It was about economic issues and a conflict between the agrarian culture of the South versus the industrial culture of the North. Slavery was really a side issue and as an institution, was on its way out with the invention of the cotton gin and other automated farm equipment.

Then at some point we moved to Virginia, and my children, being products of the public school system in a Southern state learned about "The War of Northern Aggression." I learned that the South just wanted to be left alone by the North, and a lot of what the folks down here were fighting for had to do with States' Rights. (An important issue in view of the current disregard for the Constitution, and worth another look.) I also learned from walking the battlefields and learning the history in the places where much of it took place, that there were many people in the South who had no choice but to get caught up in the war. Their farms and homes were often overrun by an enemy who brought the war to their own backyards. It's difficult to remain neutral in that environment. Many men from some of the Southern states were drafted into service at the point of a gun or with threats to family and property. Most of the people in the South were just family farmers on small farms, not wealthy enough to own slaves. These men were merely defending them and theirs. Slavery was not the thing uppermost in their minds. The heartaches borne by most of these men does not awlays make it into the current narrative about the war.

A profound reminder of the scope of this national tragedy is the annual luminaria of Antietam Battlefield on the first Saturday of December. One candle for every injury sustained by both North and South in a single day's battle. When you stand in the center of the battlefield at dusk and see nothing but lighted bags as far as the eye can see in any direction, the cost to both sides of the conflict hits home.

I am okay with recognizing the men from the South who served in the War Between the States in the state of Virginia.

Writing Pet Peeves: " To Wreck Havoc"

I get frosted when I see people use the wrong word or words to convey their message. This morning, in my reading, I came across one that has become common, and it drives me nuts:
"To wreck havoc." I wanted to reach through my computer to give the latest offender a good smack across the writing hand just to get her attention.

Now that I have your attention, dear reader, (all two of you), lest you make the same mistake, the correct term is "to wreak havoc".

To wreck: destroy, disrupt or ruin

To wreak: to inflict, visit upon

I suppose it is understandable since the word "havoc" means general destruction and devastation to want to use the word "wreck" as the active verb. But then that makes the sentence redundant: "to destroy general destruction", and is akin to a double negative.

The correct usage, "to wreak havoc" : to visit general destruction upon, is what people who wreck havoc really mean.

I hope I don't catch anyone I know wrecking havoc or I'll have to wreak some well intact havoc upon them! ;-)

Allow Me To Introduce Myself...

I have finally succumbed to the pressure. I have been a regular poster on World Magazine's Blog, participating in the contact sport they call blogging; however lately I have been absent from my friends at World.

I have a lot to say about a lot of things, mostly politics, religion and writing. Like most people, I have an opinion and I don't mind sharing it.

I tend to be conservative, however I have become disillusioned with the GOP and I am more likely to identify myself as an Independent these days. I'm for the Constitution the way the founding fathers intended it. I am against usurpation of power by Congress or the Executive branches of government, and I am against legislation from the bench from the Judicial branch. I am for smaller government and a balanced budget. I have to balance my household budget; so should my government. I identify with much of what the Tea Party Movement is about, and I believe that I am Taxed Enough Already by an ever-expanding government. I have been to Tea Party events, so I guess that makes me a "Right Wing Extremist" or whatever new phrase is being bandied about in an attempt to marginalize and vilify people who participate in Tea Parties. Whether you agree with my politics or not, I hope you will hear me out and honestly discuss the political topics without vitriol and rancor. I will endeavor to do the same.

I am a Christian and I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. My Christian faith informs my worldview, and that includes my politics. That must make my right wing extremism worse, but I'm learning to live with it. Christian faith is the bedrock upon which our nation was founded, and God was once welcome in the public square. Not all of what I write will mix religion and politics, but at least once a week, I will write something more devotional in nature, designed for introspection. It may be some thoughts on a topic, or it may be an exposition of a verse of Scripture with an application to today. I hope you will take the time to read and ponder with me, and maybe discuss with me the finer points of Holy Writ.

On writing, I will discuss frustrations and concerns of writers, both secular and religious. I hope to offer bits of whimsy and have the occasional guest writer blog in this space. To my writer friends, I hope you will share your creativity and inspiration and tips, tricks and tools of the trade. Share with me your writing experiences and your current projects. I will discuss trends in publishing and hopefully some success stories among my writer friends.

Here we go - I hope you will join me and have fun along the way.