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.)
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ago author best book called case character course crime enough example fiction friends going guy happened hitchcock idea library lot magazine man mystery name novel people person piece plot point probably published read series short something start story stout think thought times used week wolfe work writer writing wrote year
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.
Rob, you're excellent comfort also. Enjoyed taking a look at your blog past and love your pirate picture.
ReplyDeleteOops! In above comment, the word "comfort" should be "company." I think I need coffee.
ReplyDeleteRob, Awesome hat, awesome picture and your article ain't half bad either.
ReplyDeleteThanks 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.
ReplyDeleteHave you an eyepatch as well?
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"?
ReplyDeleteJanice, 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.
ReplyDeleteLiz, I will try to increase my womanizing. That didn't come out right, did it? Yes, Stout, refers to Rex.
Are you kidding me? "Put up with...?" Rob, I REVEL in your blog posts!
ReplyDeleteAnd, I salute your future womanizing. (Just don't tell my wife; she might take it the wrong way. LOL)
--Dix
Nope, I don't mind. Keep the articles coming.
ReplyDeleteAs with other articles, I often learn something new. "Talk Like A Pirate Day," and it is international.
Where's the parrot? (mine has an eye patch.)
ReplyDelete