by Roseanna White | Sep 26, 2011 | Word of the Week
Everyone knows what a fiddle is, right? Or what it means
to fiddle. It’s a violin. More, it’s a colloquial use (that usually denotes the rural or country or south) at this point. Why? The word has been used since the late 14th century, it’s perfectly legitimate. Why the connotation? (Let’s keep in mind that I LOVE what has become termed “fiddling.” I like the more formal
Violin too, but the fiddle is so much fun!)
Interestingly, it’s been relegated to such use largely because of the other words containing “fiddle” that mean “nonsense.” Funny, huh? We’ve got fiddle-faddle used since 1610 for “nonsense.” Fiddlesticks has meant the same since 1620. Fiddlededee combines the nonsensical with contempt, and has since 1784. From what I can tell, there’s no particular reason why “fiddle” got used in all these words, but it’s certainly had an effect on the root word. Fiddle now has associations with nonsense.
Maybe that’s why I like it so well. 😉
Forgive me if this post isn’t quite coherent–we spent 12 hours in the car yesterday coming home from St. Louis. The conference was great, fun, etc. Appointments went well, classes were great, but the absolute best part was getting to talk to all my friends face to face!
I’m guessing it may take a few days to recover though, LOL.
by Roseanna White | Sep 21, 2011 | Uncategorized
It’s conference time!! I’m currently en route to St. Louis for the ACFW conference (or there, depending on when you see this), so not blogging. Nope, instead I’m looking forward to a few days of immersion into the industry I love. Some awesome classes, the chance to chat with some professionals, and best of all, the fellowship of my like-minded colleagues. Yay!!
I’ll be back to my normal schedule next week. Hope everyone has a great one–and if you’ll be in St. Louis, I hope you see you there!
by Roseanna White | Sep 20, 2011 | Uncategorized
I was chatting with my 14-year-old niece over the weekend about classics. She’s reading Great Expectations in class right now, and while she finds some parts of it good, overall she’s come to the conclusion that it’s boring. She said, “Modern books are just better. By which I mean books written recently, not necessarily set recently.”
In a lot of ways, I think she’s right. Fiction writing has evolved a lot over the centuries. We have a craft, and we study on ways to improve it, to fully engage our readers. And the readers have changed! A TV generation isn’t prepared to wade through all those descriptive paragraphs. Or backstory. Or info dumps. Overall, I think this is an improvement, certainly for the world we’re writing for.
But of course, I had to tell her that not all classics are as difficult as Dickens. =) Now, I’ve read some Dickens I like. But I must confess–I sat down one summer during college with my Complete Works and said, “I’m going to read Dickens this summer!”
I got about three chapters in and went, “I’m not going to read Dickens this summer!” LOL.
But I could read Pride and Prejudice over and over again. The wit is just amazing. And as I told my niece, Jane Eyre is shockingly modern. When I read that right after college, I couldn’t believe how similar it was in style to modern books. L. M. Montgomery (who wrote around turn-of-the-century, so is borderline modern in my opinion) will always remain one of my favorite authors.
I’m glad fiction writing has come as far as it has, but I definitely still love–and have immense respect for–classics. What are you favorite pieces of classic literature? Authors, titles? Why do you love them? And which ones do you think translate best to today’s teens?
by Roseanna White | Sep 19, 2011 | Word of the Week
How do you describe a pearl? It doesn’t shine like other gems. Doesn’t shimmer, has no fire. It gleams, yes. But it’s the rainbow of color that really sets it apart. That . . . you know, the pearlized effect. 😉 Its iridescence.
I can never think of a more accurate word for it, so I was a little frustrated when I looked up “iridescent” and realized it entered English just a wee bit too late for my 1780 book. As in, 16 years later, in 1796. After grumbling for a minute over not being able to justify using it (I’m nit-picky about my word choices like that), I put it aside to wonder about the word.
“Iridescent” comes from the word “iris.” Now, we all know “iris,” right? The colored part of our eyes. A flower. Yep. But apparently “iris” means rainbow in Greek–hence why the colored part of our eyes are called that. The Greeks would also use it to describe any colored circle, like the round “eyes” on a peacock feather. Pretty neat, huh?
So it makes perfect sense that we would have created a word like “iridescent” to describe that rainbow effect. If only we had created it two decades earlier . . . 😉
(Photo credited to Georg Oleschinski/Inst. f. Paläont., Uni Bonn via Wikipedia Commons)
by Roseanna White | Sep 16, 2011 | Uncategorized
Last week my fabulous friend and crit partner, Carole Brown was the featured ACFW volunteer. I totally missed this (didn’t read many loop emails as I was buried in the first week of home school and trying to finish a book), but I’d like to give her a big hand now.
Carole is a simply amazing woman, and I’m going to miss hugging her next week in St. Louis. And Carole is BUSY! In addition to traveling a lot with her husband for their ministry and doting on a new grandbaby, Carole is the ACFW Ohio coordinator and secretary for the Ohio chapter, and has begun a cluster meeting in Cincinnati every month. She’s also an assistant for the ACFW book club, one of the ladies who reads the books and then moderates the discussion. Gooooooo, Carole!
When Carole makes it to conference, she inevitably volunteers there as well, usually at the agent/editor appointment area. She gives so selflessly of her time that I’m not sure she ever makes it to class, LOL.
Carole has a
great blog that I encourage everyone to check out. I always enjoy my visits there.
Now, I’m finally introducing the next giveaway, which will likely run through October, given how late I’m getting it started. This one will be for our fabulous WhiteFire lineup! My two biblicals, the amazing Shadowed in Silk by Christine Lindsay, set in India of 1919, and our newest book, which doesn’t release until 1 October–a beautiful medieval love story by Dina Sleiman, Dance of the Dandelion.
To enter, just leave a comment on this or any other subsequent Friday post, encouraging Carole. For an extra entry let me know if you’re following Carole’s blog. (Leave separate comments so that I can just count ’em up without thinking, LOL.)
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Having successfully launched two homeschool grads, she now spends her time writing fiction, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years, as well as a fantasy series and contemporary mysteries and romances. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.