Showing posts 1 to 10 labeled Rants (33 total)
Mystery Tropes I Wish Would Die (April 4th, 2013 - No comments)
I've always loved reading mysteries. Not only to they offer fun puzzles and a bit of mental exercise, but they're very reassuring. The detective/crime/mystery genre offers a dependable catharsis—no matter what injustices the universe throws at us, the truth will always come out... More >>
The Myth of the Patriarchy (March 4th, 2013 - 2 comments)
Over the weekend I read a blog post by a woman I generally like, but who was unfortunately beguiled by the "empowering" rah-rah of man bashers. She reviewed the book How To Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran, which apparently had her "weeping with laughter... More >>
Guns in Fiction Land (December 29th, 2012 - 1 comment)
When I was at Sweetie's father's place for Christmas, I watched a commercial for the TV series House at least a hundred times. In it was a clip of the hospital administrator giving House a cold, hard truth: "Two sick babies is very sad, but it does not prove an epidemic... More >>
The Romance of Rape (December 16th, 2012 - 1 comment)
A week or two ago there was a minor hullabaloo up in Canada (or Toronto, which is as representative of "Canada" as Manhattan is of America). A mob of university students showed up to a lecture by Warren Farrell, a prominent men's rights activist, and blocked the doors, shouted nasty chants, and harassed the attendees... More >>
The Central Lie in Fiction (November 23rd, 2012 - 2 comments)
How was everyone's Thanksgiving? This year I introduced Sweetie to the traditional Marnell way: we lock ourselves up in the house, forget it's Thanksgiving until dinner time, and then eat a meal with no turkey, stuffing, or cranberry sauce in sight... More >>
Amazon's eBook Returns Policy (November 9th, 2012 - No comments)
Yesterday I put up another short by Tara Chen, "Partners," which I think is a nice little piece. Even Sweetie only hated half of it. Usually he hates everyone and everything in my Tara Chen stories (a fan of cutesy YA romances he is not), but this time he only hated the people he was supposed to hate and tolerated people he was supposed to like... More >>
Why I Hate Neofeminists (October 27th, 2012 - 1 comment)
Back in September, while ranting about the sex myths romance writers perpetuate, I promised to talk about why I hate neofeminists. I've been putting it off because it's a touchy topic, and one that gets me very riled up... More >>
BS Writing Advice: Adverbs Are the Enemy (October 19th, 2012 - No comments)
This post begins another sporadic blogging series which I have affectionately dubbed "BS Writing Advice." I believe the title explains itself. But for the purposes of establishing a mission statement and sticking to it, I will declare that I intend to write about the ubiquitous Pro Tips for writers which are, in my humble opinion, bullshit... More >>
The Next Generation (September 26th, 2012 - No comments)
On Monday I began my first course for my copyediting certificate. Turns out I know a lot less than I thought I did! I won't write a laundry list of all the mistakes I've been making, but suffice to say that I feel like symbolically burning everything I've published before this week... More >>
Persistent Sex Myths (September 7th, 2012 - No comments)
Okay. So, after a particular reading experience lost me two nights of sleep tossing around in anger before I finally penned a scathing two-star, multiple-paragraph review, Sweetie has banned me from reading other writers' bad smutty books and restricted me to writing my own bad smutty books... More >>