This weekend I’m learning from some excellent writers at the Desert Sleuths Sisters in Crime annual WriteNow! Conference. Jan Burke and Alex Kava among others. I always enjoy this August interlude and this year seems particularly strong. Phoenix is hot for more reasons that the temperature this weekend.
Here are some posts I enjoyed from around the web this week:
Check desert copper mines with care: this one in Israel produced incredibly rare find of both linen and wool fabrics dating to the reign of King David. Click here for The Vintage News “Archaeologists find 3000 year old fabrics from reigns of Kings David and Solomon”
In defense of the passive voice. A post on Writer Unboxed about when the passive voice is best. I know, I know, everyone tells you to stick to the active voice, and they are right most of the time, but Keith Cronin makes some good points. Mostly, however, what I love about this post is Cronin’s calling out of all the grammatically confused editors and writers who don’t get that every “was” or “were” in your writing does not mean you have used a passive verb. The classical grammarian in me gets so annoyed at this complete misunderstanding of what the passive is. Just a grouchy old Latin teacher who loved sentence diagramming. That’s me. I usually keep it to myself. It’s completely fine to tell someone that “was” is a weak verb that they shouldn’t use unless necessary, but don’t say that the sentence “The dog was cute” involves a passive verb. That’s a linking verb, not a passive. It’s boring, but not because it’s passive. Or “The dog was running.” Now that’s a progressive verb. Just so you know. In case all that grammar you were taught in school wasn’t quite enough forever. I’ll hush now. Click here for Writer Unboxed “Actively Defending the Passive Voice”
I always knew this. Reading books gives you a longer life. So get reading, all! Isn’t this the happiest health advice you’ve ever heard? From the NYT. Click here for The New York Times “Read Books, Live Longer?”