Karen Foley
Lynn Raye Harris
Ellen Hartman
Diana Holquist
Samantha Hunter
Shirley Jump
Dee Tenorio
Jeannie Watt
Welcome Guest Author Emily Bryan!
Thanks for having me here, Samantha. I appreciate the opportunity to give away a copy of my newest release Vexing the Viscount to one lucky commenter!
Love the name of this blog. There must be an interesting story about how you chose it. I’ve been drunk on words for as long as I can remember and I’m always looking for unusual turns of phrase. ‘Love is an exploding cigar’ certainly qualifies.
Last Saturday, we enjoyed a rare mild day here in New England. I firmly believe any day I can see the ocean is a day of vacation, so my DH and I loaded up the dogs and headed for Revere Beach. We had a refreshing time strolling up and down the winter-packed sand, listening to the boom and hiss of surf and watching our terrier go crazy over every clam shell he found.
Which made me wonder about the old saying “happy as a clam.” How happy can a clam be? How does one tell whether a clam is happy or not? And why do we keep saying this when, besides being trite, it’s obvious no one knows what it means?
So when I got home, as any good writer would do, I researched it. Turns out the original saying dates to 1636 when the full turn of phrase was “happy as a clam in the mud at high tide.” This makes a good deal more sense since presumably it wasn’t likely to be dug up and eaten then, which I would guess constitutes the pinnacle of clam happiness.
When it was first uttered, “happy as a clam . . .” was no doubt considered a profound witticism. Now it’s just noise. I’m always scouring my prose for anything over-done. So here’s your chance to help me add to my collection of tired sayings. What are your verbal pet peeves?
Leaving an example of something trite, purple or just plain irritating will enter you in my drawing. One lucky commenter will win a copy of Vexing the Viscount. Why should you want one, I hear you ask? Here’s what John Charles of Booklist has to say about my Viscount:
“Lucian Beaumont, Viscount Rutland, had to be the most stubborn man in England. Even though Daisy Drake has both the funds and the expertise he needs to find a long-lost Roman treasure, the infuriating man refuses to accept her help. But when Daisy attends a masquerade disguised as notorious courtesan Blanche La Tour, she discovers Blanche is the one woman Lucian can't resist. So "Blanche" offers Lucian the money he needs if he will accept her "partner" as part of his excavation team. What Lucian doesn't know but we do is who this new partner is. A refreshingly unconventional hero and heroine, an intriguingly different historical setting, and a surfeit of sizzling sexual chemistry all fall neatly into place in Bryan's latest splendidly sexy romance.”
Looking forward to hearing from YOU!
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Welcome Emily!
So glad to have you here today!
Love is an Exploding Cigar is based on a Lynda Barry quote "Love is an exploding cigar we willingly smoke" which was pitched to our original group way back when by Sarah Mayberry suggested the name as a joke, but then it really grabbed me. I like unusual names, and my real life name probably conditioned me to that, so I guess it makes sense. I thought it also made up stand out from the crowd of blogs named by various writing metaphors, and offers a funny angle on being romance writers, since the cigars often do explode in our characters' faces, don't they? ;)
Your "happy as a clam" made me think of similar phrases like "bug in a rug" (always my mom's favorite, but not appealing when you think about it) or "Pea in a pod" etc.
I have language issues when a writer gloms onto a word that they use over and over until it becomes so noticeable its painful. We all repeat terms, usually the mundane ones like "now" or "just" or "little" etc but what I am thinking of is more like Nora Robert's repeated use of the word "legion" -- for a while, she had a span of books where enemies or doubts or fears or whatever were always "legion." It drove me bazonkers, and I love Nora's books (though I am mostly a fan of the older ones, pre-2004).
Sam
favorite words
I think we're all guilty of falling in love with certain words and over-using them. I remember Kathleen Woodiwiss using "arms akimbo" in every one of her books. I've never seen that anywhere else.
I have to read my work aloud. My ears will catch word echoes my eyes miss.
http://www.emilybryan.com
I remember Revere Beach!
I'm originally from the South Shore, and when I got my license, the big thing to do was drive into Boston (insane, I know!) Well, my friend and I got lost, and ended up in Revere, and went to Revere Beach. Still, we'd made it out of our small town, and that was a victory to us!
I have been back a few times since then, and walked most of the beaches in Massachusetts over the course of my life. Now I live in the Midwest and...sigh...miss the beach SO much.
Shirley
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
In Stores Now: THE BRIDESMAID AND THE BILLIONAIRE
www.shirleyjump.com
If you ain't where you are, you're no place
I know what you mean about missing the place you left. I just came back from a quick trip back to Seattle to speak at EASTSIDE RWA. We lived in downtown Seattle at 2nd & Vine and I still miss being able to look east to the Cascades and west to Puget Sound and the Olympic Penninsula.
But every place has its own charms. I've been enjoying Massachusetts a lot, but eventually, my DH and I will be moving back to the Midwest. :) It's where we started.
http://www.emilybryan.com
LOL, Emily, because...
I live in the Midwest now. We can just trade places. :-)
Shirley
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
In Stores Now: THE BRIDESMAID AND THE BILLIONAIRE
www.shirleyjump.com
Welcome Emily
Well Emily its nice to see you here. This past Saturday we had a beautiful day of 70 degree tempts ourself and I loved it. It was short lived because today it is about 30 again, (crying) I am so ready for spring weather. Your book sounds like a great read but don't enter me because I have it in my TBR pile. Have a wonderful day.
Move it up in the pile
Hey Lead Bottom!
See if you can't move VEXING THE VISCOUNT up a slot or two in your TBR pile! It's already spring for Daisy and Lucian. :)
http://www.emilybryan.com
Vexing the Viscount
What a cool blog, followed from Emily's blog and couldn't resist the chance to comment on pet prose peeves. LOL
I get bored & I admit, annoyed with any trite cliches, but I was truly 'gobsmacked' when reading a well known historical romance author to come across the phrase ... "he ejaculated" every time a particular character said something in excitement or rage... "I really don't see the point" Mr Chawleigh ejaculated.
Is it just me?? I prefer that word saved for the deed not used as a descriptive utterance.
okay, thats just ewwwwwww! i
okay, thats just ewwwwwww!
i totally agree.
not good.
jody
definitely
I have to agree, that word wouldn't work for me in dialogue, either, though I think it's fine in a love scene... I kind of like the noun form, as well, and have used it, though I know it bothers some people for various reasons.
Sam
Ejaculated!?!
My sharp editor always says "said" is all that's needed for a dialogue tag. Using descriptive verbs is usually a good thing, but in this instance things like huffed, growled, squealed or worse adding an adverb (he grunted archly) only yanks the reader from the story.
But it's even better if your dialogue needs no tag at all, if the distinctive voice of each character shines through on the basis of word choice alone.
http://www.emilybryan.com
That's terrible, you're so
That's terrible, you're so right!
And on happy as a clam: it reminds me of our Dutch saying, 'stoned as a shrimp'. It may well date back to the 1970s, but it's so absurd and apt at the same time, it still makes me laugh - as long as it involves nothing more than smoking pot, that is.
I know some words in romance novels tick me of, but luckily, not so much that I actually remember any off the top of my head!
Rock on!
Hi Nynke!
Stoned as a shrimp? Hmm. I've heard of rock loster, but not stoned shrimp.
http://www.emilybryan.com
LOL
There are stone crabs, I think, but we won't go there... LOL
ever heard this one? he's
ever heard this one? he's as happy as a pig in sh-t.
you're as pretty as a button
you're as dumb as a sack full of
hammers.
Dumb and Dumber
My dad has an arsenal of insulting imagery for the intellectually challenged. Here are some of his favs:
Dumb as a bucketful of hair
One brick short of a load
Half a bubble off plumb
And he has one delightfully off-color description of someone who's fidgety:
Well, aren't you a fart in a skillet?
How he came up with that one I'll never know, but I've never heard it anywhere else.
http://www.emilybryan.com