Yvonne Foong

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Everyone can write. Everyone is creative. But only a handful gets published. So what exactly constitutes to good writing?

1. Avoid alliteration. Always.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They’re old hat.)
4. Employ the vernacular.
5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
8. Contractions aren’t necessary.
9. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
10. One should never generalize.
11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
12. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
14. Don’t be redundant; don’t use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
15. Be more or less specific.
16. Understatement is always best.
17. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be avoided.
21. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
22. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
23. Who needs rhetorical questions?

Credits go to him and him. Main source unknown.

I think the same should be applied to good professional blogging. More respect are given to those firm in thoughts. News on TV are general enough so we need valid logical opinions. I have a lot to learn in that aspect myself, so let us all keep this in mind to make our blogs more professional.

While indulging in my daily readings of Problogger.net, I came upon this particular post made by one of Darren’s guestblogger. Chrispian wrote some productivity tips and hints about how he personally juggle between his job, blogging and still able to spare time for his wife, Aeryn who suffers from cancer. A little insight to this guy, Chrispian is a 30 year old Alabamian writer and professional web developer. More of his profile can be found here.

Chrispian’s biggest writing project has to be lit.org with a tagline that speaks for itself, “read, write, respond. A community for writers”. Lit.org has nearly 1,000 registered authors and over 3,000 works published online. Thousands of lines of code, over 10 re-designs in six years, 30,000 page views a month, nods in Time Magazine, The Huntsville Times, Inscriptions Magazine and more.

There are also several other links that he calls as my precious. I’m still wondering if he owns them or not. Part of the list is Writers Unbound, Writing Portal, and Literature Vault.

It seems that Crispian’s own personal portal is good enough to stand alone as a writer community. A great resource to jumpstart your writing quest.

The wonderful thing about this entire blogosphere is that, you can get heard even from the other side of the globe. Thanks to Technorati, I can track whoever plugs this site by simply including my url into the watchlist. Now that blogging can be so widespread, its important to keep your facts right to prevent misunderstandings. Do you see that I recommend Tuesdays With Morrie at the sidebar? Here’s a note that Morrie DID NOT suffer from Neurofibromatosis like myself, he suffered from a fatal illness called Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

And what exactly is ALS?

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s disease,” is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually lead to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed. Yet, through it all, for the vast majority of people, their minds remain unaffected. Source

Morrie’s struggles and teachings are being documented in this little memoir written by his student, Mitch Albom, who is also author to several other books. Morrie shows us how often that we take the little things in life forgranted. He talks about his views on all aspects of life, the things we often scrutinise and avoid.

I didn’t expect myself to be writing a review on the book, so may I apologise and point you to Jimmy Ang’s view on this book. You might think that a book like this is not worth reading since we all know Morrie’s teachings are common sense. But do you really know?

When I read that book, I was greatly touched by Morrie’s ability to detach himself from the external and physical world. He reminded me of the times that I completely surrended myself to my caretakers, how hopeless and weak I felt at that time. Some of you may not have the chance to feel how ‘lightened’ I was so here goes a plus to pick up Tuesdays With Morrie. Through this book, you will be able to grasp what it is like to be apathetic and indifferent. What my soul became after my first two surgeries.

And, if you’re really intending to buy, how about using my referral link at the sidebar? Doing that would earn me some extra bucks.

Today’s shopping spree ended up with nothing bought home. Blame my parents for causing my petite frame, I couldn’t find anything decent that suits me yet not make me out of shape. I was hoping to get some dresses but they’re all too long and big for me. So I thought, oh well maybe a new skirt would do, and then the skirts in fashion look like curtains on me! I’ve had enough of miniskirts tho’, I need a change, time to hide my muscular legs. But it seemed that the entire shopping mall is not right for me. There should be shops for teenagers, somewhere. I must find them! I’m trying to change my wardrobe from kiddie-casual to smart casual. At least, presentable that people would start taking me as a serious writer.

Men should be thankful that all they need to put on is a decent suit and matching tie. Saves them so much time and braincells! dang it… mommy. why am I a girl? why am I so short? why I don’t I look my age? anyway, my shopping spree is to be continued….

I spent the last few hours changing the layout of NF Malaysia. It may not be so sweet anymore but I want people to take us seriously. I’m certainly not joking when I said that I wish to help people like myself. NF Malaysia is where I put my words into action. Maybe it still looks a bit dull but that will probably improve with a new banner.

And thank you guys for being concerned about my health. To this new tumor of mine, welcome onboard! Don’t say that I didn’t warn you, our journey may be very rocky so be sure to fasten your seatbelt! Jemey suggested that I try alternative medicine, something that I had not given much thought about. NF is a genetic disorder and how can some sort of hocus pocus healing powers change that fact? No logic! But then, after giving some more thoughts on it, hey I’ve got nothing to loose right? Either way, I will still die one day. As long as the therapies do not ‘agitate’ tumor growths, then I am fine with them. Even if they don’t cure me, my stresses and back pains might just go away with it. Here comes a new idea!

Another tumor discovered. This one is somewhere along my chin bone. It can easily be dismissed as part of the bone, but upon closer inspection, it is indeed an alien inhibitant. I should be very emotional about this new member onboard, but I feel nothing except fear. I don’t feel anything more because new tumors grow so often that I’ve developed a high degree of apathy towards all this.

I went swimming yesterday. Ironically, there is a tumor on my residual balance nerve. If that goes, I will not be able to swim ever again. Anyway, I was not alone in the water. As though I was a massive sub-marine tank, and the tumors inside me are the crew men. Or maybe a sea turtle with many parasites inhibiting its shell. In a way, I felt like I’m the leader of my troop. When a new tumor is discovered, its like a new mushroom growing on a damp lock- me.

I honestly have no idea what the future lies for me in regards to my health. How am I supposed to go far with so many time bombs ticking inside my body? How many more surgeries can I afford to withstand? How much more strength do I have to drain? What’s going to happen when my last straw is pulled? It is said that our lifespan may be prolonged, thanks to the advancement of medical treatments. But very honestly, how much more can my body endure? I am only 19 for God’s sake. If I’m lucky enough, I may have more than 50 years to fight on. But how much more than I really take?

Oh boy! Oh boy! The HEI will be having speech reading classes this coming September! The course is taught over a 9 week period for only USD$125.

Besides lip reading skills, participants will also be taught to be more assertive when listening, more informed about medical advances, information on hearing technology and assistive listening devices, and discussions about the effects of hearing loss on spouse, family and friends.

I don’t know if the price is reasonable in U.S. but it would surely cost more in Malaysia. A complete sign-language course in Malaysia can be charged more than RM1000. Besides, lip-reading courses are hard to find. If I can have things my way, I would part with a few hundred ringgits to attend a lip-reading course at the House Ear Institute! I might be able to do that if my surgery coincides with the course schedule, which begins on October 12 to September 14, 2005. But then, the course is taught over 9 weeks. Where am I going to stay?

Anyway, if you live anywhere near Los Angeles, you might want to consider this as an extra skill. Lip readers are quite in demand nowadays.

Now that almost everyone have written about last Friday’s bloggers gathering, its not my turn to LINK my readers to their blogs. Lazy pig, me! haha! Yeah I truly cherish the short time we had together as friends. Poor Lilian was all over the place looking after her 4 sons. There were Milly, SKay, Lockee, Mr. Kiasi (wonder what is his real name) and Amira. Also got to meet Dr. Ros (a candidate as Malaysian Astronaut) and her toddler. The big deal here is that SHE is the ONLY WOMAN among the last 10 shortlisted candidate for the Malaysian Astronaut Programme! whoot!

And finally, there was Yi Liang who held the position of interpreter for the day. Look at his snobbish face!

When everyone left, Yi Liang and I hopped over to Kinokuniya for some window shopping before parting ways for home. That was my first meeting that used pen-and-paper as communication. bravo to me!