I’ve never been good about keeping a journal. It all boils down to consistency. There are days when I skip making an entry. Life can crowd out the time I need to write down my thoughts about a day’s events. I’ve also been reluctant to pose as an expert on the writing process. If I knew anything of value about writing, my work would already be in print. I went out on a skinny limb of a tall in 2022 when I shared my 365 days of thankfulness. The exercise forced me to put myself out there with my soft belly exposed. Thank you for joining me on my writing journey. I will call entry number 5, The Desire to be Politically Correct.
Note: I consider editing an important part of the writing process. Editing is where all the artistry happens.
The project I am working on now and the desire to be politically correct.
I worked on two more long short stories in the Tecumseh City Limits collection. I may have to remove one of the stories. The Long haul is written from the perspective of an over-the-road truck driver who can’t figure out how to navigate the new rules of the 21st century. It is a combination of two events told me by one of my sons while I was collecting my stories for my NaNoWriMo project. I have a strong desire to be politically correct. Nobody wants to be thrown under the bus because they can’t keep their big mouth shut. My problem is that some of my characters don’t want to behave. They are working-class people with a mind of their own.
When I started writing, I was told, “Write what you know.” My world is occupied by people who work for a living and live in places where people roll up their car windows and lock the door when they drive past. These people show up on the pages of my stories, and I have a hard time kicking them to the curb.
The guy in my story has to come to terms with training a transgender person and his odd prejudice against Canadian drivers. By the end of the story, he discovers that they are alright in his book. I’ve come to believe that you can’t always stay inside the lines when you write humor, but you can be kind.
The book I am reading while I desire to be politically correct.
I’m still reading Stephen King’s The Dark Half. George Stark is running into problems. The pseudonym has discovered that he can’t write without the author. He’s starting to deteriorate. I love the way King is letting us take a walk inside the head of a writer. I might not be successful, but he is right that a writer is as superstitious as athletes in the writing process. The hardest thing I found about retirement was how I used to get up a 5:00 every morning to do morning pages before work. I also have to sit at my desk with my two laptops—one for research and the other to put the words on the page. I don’t think King worries much about political correctness when he writes.
What I’m listening to today while I ponder The Desire to be Politically Correct.
I selected Tab Benoit’s Live: Swampland Jam for my listening pleasure this morning. Tab is a Louisiana blues artist. Rooster and I love to watch him play live music. You should check him out.
Grammar terms I am studying from the little blue box.
I found a little blue box filled with grammar terms I wrote on index cards. The study I did ten years ago was forgotten. My goal was to review all English language punctuation and speech parts. I missed most of the essential parts of speech in grade school because of my dyslexia. A writer needs to know how grammar works. Words and how they fit together are important tools in the trade. Grammar is the brush strokes we apply to the canvas of our stories.
The group of cards I pulled from the blue box this morning concerned common errors in English. There appear to be a whole series of them. Today I will deal with when to use near or the word nearly.
Nearly is an adverb that means almost.
Near is flexible and can be used as an adjective, verb, adverb, or preposition.
I have an entire series of words that a writer can misuse. I plan to revisit all of these words over the next few days. That’s all I have for today. Catch you later.
Who is Molly Shea?
Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh. To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.
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