Beth’s Blog

Today I want you to punch up your writing by scrubbing through it and deleting every boring, dull, passive word and replace it with a vibrant, active term.

Need an example? How’s this:

He ran.

Booooring. How’s this?

He ran fast.

Ugh. Even worse. Let’s keep working on it.

He shot out of the car like a bullet.

Eh. Better but not quite there.

What do you think?

Comment on my blog and show me how you would beef up the sentence. The writer who comes up with the most interesting sentence will win an e-book copy of my first novel. Enjoy and have fun.

A Writing Etc. subscriber e-mailed asking about outlines, how to do ‘em, if you really need one, so I decided to contact the most prolific writer I know, Billie Williams, to see how she handles these little gems. Next thing I knew, we were creating a short podcast on the topic. Enjoy!

Enjoy!

Just click here to check ‘er out.

OK. Life is going well, I’m exercising daily.

I pop in a new Wii game called “EA Active, More Exercises.” Yeah. Talk about a lame title, eh?

But, the new workout is anything but lame.

Towards the end, I was supposed to do 20 “crunches.”

No problem. My weight is down. I’ve been exercising daily for months. I plopped to the floor, laid down and prepared for the inevitable.

As the kind lady on TV yelled, “One!” my head lifted from the floor.

Let me repeat: my head. Just my head.

Not my shoulders. Not my back either.

Just the head.

If I recall correctly, isn’t the body, from the waist up, supposed to raise during a crunch?

Dang. My only conclusion is that I’m still horrifically out of shape.

So… I’m still attempting to “crunch,” without much success after two days.

I’ll keep at it. But, if you’ve got any tips on how to get those abdominal muscles to work better, I’m all ears.

‘Til next time,

Beth

Stepped on the scale today and I’m down over 60 pounds. I also completed my certificate in plant based nutrition from Cornell. Yippee! Feels GOOD.

I personally own a Sony, but read this if you’re pondering an e-book reader. Enjoy!

http://tinyurl.com/yf2mw2o

Great link:

http://tinyurl.com/yhgrzv6

Enjoy!

Beth

And I swear I felt a little snow in the air.

Arugh!

According to the YouTube page: “The girl next door is getting married. Anne Frank is leaning out of the window of her house in Amsterdam to get a good look at the bride and groom.”In a word, WOW.Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hvtXuO5GzU

(If anyone knows how to embed an Youtube vid on a blog without messing up the formatting, let me know.)