Category Archives: Random

Has Political Correctness Gone Too Far?

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The idea of political correctness (PC as many have come to abbreviate it) is not anything new. The civil rights movements in the 1960s and 1970s were all about trying to remove the gender and racial bias that is inherent in our society. From these tough times came some positive actions — things that I and my children can benefit from — but with the push for acceptance and tolerance, has today's society taken it too far?

Every time I turn around, the acceptable terminology to describe those around me has changed yet again. I have come to terms with the idea that words do change their meanings with each generation, but must we really confuse multiple generations of people at once, simply because the latest generation thinks we’re being insensitive? It's bad enough that the term "gay" has two different meanings depending on the context (happy or homosexual), but now we have this LBGTQ acronym that we have to use.

Let's ignore the fact that majority of the population will have no clue what LBGTQ stands for. I didn't — not until I actually looked it up while writing this post. (For those of you who don't know, LBGTQ stands for lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgendered and queer — however, the Q can stand for questioning too, depending on who you're talking to.) Instead, let’s just confuse everyone with a random acronym that isn't even nice to say — it doesn't roll off the tongue.

New legislation crops up every day, all designed to help promote equality. Each new law is meant to help bridge the gaps that were identified in the 1960s and 1970s, but extend to all areas where prejudice can occur. These laws are meant to help shatter the glass ceiling that women face in business and industry. They’re meant to remove the barriers for those of different skin colours and religious backgrounds. They’re there to give people the confidence to forge the romantic connections that pull so strongly on their hearts. All of these new laws and policies were meant to protect people's rights to be different, but this push to promote diversity within society has taken an insane turn.

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Aspiring Writer: The Sequal

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In a post last year, I spoke about the term aspiring writer and how it’s a term that I dislike. Back then, I had this wonderful circular argument about how if you write, then you are a writer — no aspiring about it. Regardless, I still see an insane number of people who insist on calling themselves aspiring writers.

Back when that original post first came out, someone had commented on one of my Facebook discussion groups that the term writer referred to a person who was paid to write.

To be fair, the term applies to people who want to make a career out of writing. Writer is a professional term.

You have no idea how much my skin crawls at this concept. Clearly, my arguments using the definitions in Merrian-Webster were insufficient to get my point across. Perhaps the Oxford English Dictionary might sway the ideas. So here goes.Read More→

When Did Touch Become Non-tactile?

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Random thoughts seem to hit me at the oddest of times, and the other morning was no different.

My husband’s alarm decided that it wasn’t doing a good enough job in getting my husband’s attention, so it decided to wake me up instead. Yes, this inanimate object has decision-making skills. Curse you, Siri. So, there I was groaning internally, barely able to function because I went to bed way too late, wondering when the hell my husband was going to turn off his alarm.

After a good solid minute of the disgusting attempt at serenade music—perhaps it was less, but I couldn’t tell—I rolled over to give him a good shove, only to discover that he wasn’t there. He must have been in the shower or in the lounge having his breakfast, but wherever he was, he left his rude phone on the bedside table.

Grunting with effort, I dragged myself across the bed and grabbed his phone, expecting to see the same type of thing that my phone does when an alarm goes off—swipe circles. Nope. It turns out that iPhones don’t work the same way Androids do. So, I activated the screen and touched the off button.

Then it hit me. When did touch become non-tactile?Read More→

Manuscript is too long, so split it… NOT!!!

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I have lost count of the number of times that someone has told me that I should take my long manuscript and split it into two (or three) and call it done. This particular conversation comes up every single time I mention to anyone how long my manuscript is, and it’s actually not outrageously long — it just happens to be over 100,000 words. But let’s face it, my work is high fantasy, and I would struggle to think of any high fantasy novel that wasn’t over 100,000 words (a high fantasy intended for adult audiences).Read More→

Books could almost be immortal

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I have seen many debates over that last few years about whether the introduction of the eBook has killed the publishing industry. Many have asked whether books are a thing of the past. It’s a valid question, but this is not the first time the question has been asked.

Think about all the old doomsday stories. In many of them, society has been left to flounder, and the knowledge of the past is frequently lost. Reading becomes a lost skill or something that only a select few know. Languages evolve and unless certain knowledge is passed down from generation to generation, history becomes this mysterious thing that none of us understand.Read More→