by Ashley Lister
Below are five things I don’t tell people about myself:
1) I’m a lousy driver. I drive in a state of constant road rage.
Sitting next to me whilst I’m in rush hour traffic is like sitting next to a sailor
on shore leave, suffering from Tourette’s, trying to recite Eminem lyrics.
2) Out of our four dogs, I have a favourite: Spike. I appreciate that a good dog owner does not have favourites but I'm not a good dog owner and Spike is my favourite dog. He holds a position of esteem above all the other pets and some of the human members of the family. He is laid-back, possesses a pot-belly and has a weakness for chocolate biscuits. I think
we have a lot in common. Except only one of us eats turds. 
3) I love to display the Union Flag because I have national pride
but I worry that it makes me look like a racist or a sport enthusiast: neither
of which are looks I would wish to cultivate.
4) Whenever I’m writing short fiction I have a habit of
starting too many sentences in the first draft with the word ‘and’. Obviously
these instances of the word ‘and’ get deleted as the second draft is processed
but they’re always there at the start, like clumsy thumbprints in moulded plaster.
5) I have a strong desire to learn how to do the Gangnam Style
dance. Consideration and respect for my colleagues prevents me from attempting this.
11 comments:
"I have a habit of starting too many sentences in the first draft with the word ‘and’"
Busted. So busted! Me too.
RG - thank God I'm not the only one.
:-)
And what's wrong with that?
And what's wrong with that?
And what's wrong with that?
I think there's no issue at all with the desire to learn the Gangnam style dance. Do it :)
Colin,
And I knew you were going to say that. And I knew you were going to...
:-)
Cerridwen,
I think gangnam style would be the start of a slippery slope. After that I'd want to start twerkin. No one would want to see that.
Ash
I have too many "that"'s. And too many "and"'s at the beginning, middle, and end of sentences; too many semicolons, too many commas, sometimes my sentences drag out for---what seems like an absolute complete---eternity, that just doesn't ever seem to end sometimes. Oh, and just plain too darn many "just"'s, colloquialisms, I-really-don't-care-opportunities for hyphens, and...
Brewt,
"that" is another of those words that I can happily delete from most revisions. Sometimes I think I could tell MS Word to simply delete the word THAT from a a manuscript and it would not spoil the draft at all.
Ash
Haha. Me, too! AND THAT is a great idea. Deleting all instances of and, that, just, and actually to see if it improves my copy...
Cheers, Willow!
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