Tuesdays with Story

Writer’s Mail
Tuesdays with Story
January 14, 2016

The first word . . .

Oh, for a good title . . . Herman Melville had always called his behemoth of a novel The Whale during the 10 years he was writing it. His British publisher didn’t think much of the book, feeling it wasn’t good enough to be a children’s book, but did finally bring it out as juvenile fiction with Melville’s title. Harper & Brothers, his U.S. publisher, liked the book, but thought the title awful. Mr. Harper had recently read a real-life newspaper account of a monumental chase at sea that involved a huge white whale named Mocha Dick. Sensing free publicity, he suggested Melville give his whale a name similar to Mocha Dick and that that be the title of the book. The book was a publishing bust, selling only 3,200 copies during Melville’s lifetime. Ahh, but today –

Who’s up next . . .

January 19: Bob Kralapp (???), Kashmira Sheth (chapters, Nina Soni), Pat Edwards (???), Kashmira Sheth & Amit Trivedi (chapter, novel), Randy Slagel (short story, part 1, “Watered-Down Witch”), and Jerry Peterson (chapters 23-26, Killing Ham).

January 26: ?

February 2: Lisa McDougal (chapter 48, Tebow Family Secret), Kashmira Sheth & Amit Trivedi (chapter, novel), Eva Mays (???), Judith McNeil (???), Millie Mader (???), and Kashmira Sheth (chapters, Nina Soni).

We have another blogger among us. . .

Eva Mays, a new member of the first-and-third group. Here’s her blog’s web address: http://www.humblebeehome.blogspot.com
Check it out.

And this.

Michael Grant has written 150 books. More, actually, but it’s at least 150. First there was the Animorphs series, cowritten with his wife, Katherine Applegate, which became a popular television show on Nickelodeon. Young Adult fans probably know him from the dystopian Gone series, which has been optioned for TV by Sony. And this month Michael returns with a very different kind of story. Front Lines plunges us into a reimagined world in which the troops on the battlefield in World War II include young women. The Bay Area-based author answers your questions about writing alternate histories, killing characters, and the best advice for writers. Read on!   https://www.goodreads.com/interviews/show/1098.Michael_Grant?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ya_newsletter&utm_campaign=2016-01&utm_content=grant

Great word . . .

From Word Spy Paul McFedreis:

climatarian

Meaning: (noun) A person whose diet consists primarily of foods that do not contribute to human-induced climate change.

Other forms: climatarian adj.

Etymology: climate + -arian

Examples:

“Climatarians look at their food choices with a sense of duty similar to what many put toward recycling, or riding their bike to work.”
– Ari LeVaux, The climate menu, Austin American-Statesman, January 4, 2016

“The Climatarian diet also recommends avoiding using air freighted food and frozen produce, instead only purchasing local, seasonal and fresh produce.”
– Climatarian: The new way to cut carbon emissions from your diet, edie, July 16, 2015

2011

Earliest:

– Rene Ebersole, New Year, New Diet: Become a Climatarian, Audubon, January 9, 2009

The Final Word . . .

Continents apart but

Kohinoor and Cnoc an óir

The Urdu/Hindi word Kohinoor is similar to the Irish-Gaelic word Cnoc an óir. Cnoc means hill, óir or ór means gold or light. Kohinoor means mountain of light.

(I found this on a website which had malware so I had not credited the source.)