18 September 2013

What Was I Saying?


As you know, this blog's birthday was yesterday, two days before my birthday, which is also International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  Aaar!   So, all these festive occasions having put me in a reflective mood, I have been consdiering what all of us have been talking about here.

And it seems to me that each of us has his or her own themes.  I see emphases on: true crimes current, true crimes historic, professional experience (as cops, soldiers, spies, psychologists, etc.), childhood memories, current family news, book reviews, favorite books, authors, or films, and of course writing techniques.

In any given week any one of us might write about any of those subjects, and do, but we each seem to have favorites.  I suspected I knew what mine was but I tested it out by tossing all my columns for the past two years into tagcrowd, which pulls out the fifty most commonly used words.  (Incidentally, I also use Tagcrowd on any piece I am about to send to an editor.  It helps me spot words I have overused.) 

-->
created at TagCrowd.com



Which supports my theory: my main theme is the writing life.  I have been blogging here, mostly, about how it feels to get an idea, grind out a rough draft, edit, submit, get rejected, etc.  Here are a few examples, describing different parts of the process:

Restless Brain Syndrome
Backtalk
The Rising Island Method
RSI
Picking More Black Orchids 

My conclusion is that I use this space as a sort of writing diary and you good readers are my excuse for keeping it up.  I hope you don't mind.

And I hope that you will put up with me and my fellow bloggers for a long time.  Because they - and you - are good company.

9 comments:

  1. Rob, you're excellent comfort also. Enjoyed taking a look at your blog past and love your pirate picture.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oops! In above comment, the word "comfort" should be "company." I think I need coffee.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rob, Awesome hat, awesome picture and your article ain't half bad either.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the mention of tagcrowd which I had not known existed. That's got to be a form of the program used to determine who wrote a piece of writing.

    Have you an eyepatch as well?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rob, I notice your favorite words don't include "woman" or any related or synonymous word. I encourage you to expand your horizon in our direction. Also, does "stout" refer to waistlines or Rex? And shouldn't that be "Aaargh"?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Janice, funny you should mention an eyepatch. Anyone who looked at this page before around 1 AM EST saw a blue mess where the text should be. The reason, I assume, had something to do with tagcrowd, but the reason I didn't spot it is that, because of my lousy eyes, I have my computer screen set for high contrast (if you have Windows, click on Alt-Shift-PrtScreen to see how my screen looks). Since that turns all fonts to white-on-black I didn't notice the problem until I checked it on my ipad at bedtime. Then I had to turn on the 'puter and retype the damned thing. Oh well.

    Liz, I will try to increase my womanizing. That didn't come out right, did it? Yes, Stout, refers to Rex.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Are you kidding me? "Put up with...?" Rob, I REVEL in your blog posts!

    And, I salute your future womanizing. (Just don't tell my wife; she might take it the wrong way. LOL)

    --Dix

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nope, I don't mind. Keep the articles coming.

    As with other articles, I often learn something new. "Talk Like A Pirate Day," and it is international.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Where's the parrot? (mine has an eye patch.)

    ReplyDelete

Welcome. Please feel free to comment.

Our corporate secretary is notoriously lax when it comes to comments trapped in the spam folder. It may take Velma a few days to notice, usually after digging in a bottom drawer for a packet of seamed hose, a .38, her flask, or a cigarette.

She’s also sarcastically flip-lipped, but where else can a P.I. find a gal who can wield a candlestick phone, a typewriter, and a gat all at the same time? So bear with us, we value your comment. Once she finishes her Fatima Long Gold.

You can format HTML codes of <b>bold</b>, <i>italics</i>, and links: <a href="https://about.me/SleuthSayers">SleuthSayers</a>