Inventing Reality Editing Service

May you tell me which is right? I can.

As I child, did you ever ask your teacher, “Can I go to the bathroom?” only to be corrected “I don’t know, can you?” You’d look confusedly at her, and she’d say, “It’s may I go the bathroom.” You grumbled “May I go the bathroom?” and with hall pass in hand head off to do your business.

Yet somehow that lesson didn’t seem to sink in for a lot of writers, who still confuse can and may in adulthood.

Can is a helping verb that means physical or mental ability; to wit, Can Kieran play basketball really well? A form of able or capable always can replace can in a sentence, as in Is Kieran capable of playing basketball really well?

May is a helping verb that requests permission, as in May I go with Mary to the concert, Mom? Or suggests the possibility of, as in Tomorrow may be a snow day.

This distinction between can and may only exists when asking a question. If answering a may question (May I turn the channel? ) with a “no” or a denial, you can respond with a version of can:
• You may not turn the channel.
• You cannot turn the channel
• You can’t turn the channel.

Of course, may and can slowly are becoming interchangeable in daily use. A century from now (and maybe sooner), the distinctions outlined here may be archaic. For the time being, when in a formal situation or being polite, always use the grammatically correct version described here.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

5 Interesting Science Fiction Writing Prompts

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life” or “The government outlaws books.” The author then asks “What if?” exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture – that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating – a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance – still doesn’t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

Body logins
What if rather than passwords, tablets and smartphones instead allowed you to log in by reading your body movements – the way you place the phone to your head, the way you slouch in a chair, and so on? Research, after all, has found that the way we move is as unique to each of us as a fingerprint.

Composite metal foams
What if instead of heavy body armor, new lightweight foams could turn bullets into dust upon impact? How does this change the way we fight wars? Would a nation with this invincible technology be emboldened to devastate its enemies in a first strike? What are other applications of this technology (space exploration, nuclear waste shipping, etc.)?

Eta Cassiopeiae A colonization
What if far future explorers colonized a planet orbiting this sun of the binary star system? The planet’s year would be slightly longer than Earth’s, necessitating a 14-month calendar.

Smart cop dashcams
What if a rudimentary AI connected to a dashcam in a police crusier could quickly identify wanted people, weapons, and other information? What countermeasures might criminals take to counter this technology?

Turing glasses
What if you could wear glasses that allowed you to determine if the biped before you was an intelligent android or a human? How would the glasses work? How might androids wishing to conceal their identity employ countermeasures to trick the glasses?

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

Writing Advice: 8 Tips For New Fiction Authors

• Should you ever co-write your book? 
• Should you use a pen name for your book? 
• How to come up with a great pen name
• How to come up with an awesome story title 
• Should you turn your life story into a novel?
• How long should my young adult novel be?
• Fanfic not so bad if used for growing as a writer 
• BONUS: "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights..." 

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

5 Great Quotations about Story Ideas

“I try to write about the stuff that torments us all.” - Danielle Steel

“All stories interest me, and some haunt me until I end up writing them.” - Isabel Allende

“Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say.” - Barbara Kingsolver

“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them.” - Orson Scott Card

“If you stuff yourself full of poems, essays, plays, stories, novels, films, comic strips, magazines, music, you automatically explode every morning like Old Faithful. I have never had a dry spell in my life, mainly because I feed myself well, to the point of bursting. I wake early and hear my morning voices leaping around in my head like jumping beans. I get out of bed to trap them before they escape.” - Ray Bradbury

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

Every success story begins with a dream. If you dream of being a professional, published author, that success story requires believing in yourself and in knowing that your efforts will lead to triumph. Read the motivational blog entry this quotation came from by clicking on the quote card.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

Gear needed for making YouTube videos

You’ll need a few pieces of equipment to ensure you produce a quality video. You probably have all of it already; if not, the few missing pieces are fairly inexpensive and available at most discount store supercenters as well as online.

Let’s look at the video gear you’ll need and some of the specific requirements of each.

Video camera
A full-size video camera that can make high-definition digital videos is vital. DSLR cameras or camcorders can create a superior video and audio to smartphones, though the technology of the latter is rapidly improving. When selecting a camera/camcorder, be sure that it either has a lot of storage space or that an SD card can be plugged into it, as videos require a lot of memory compared to even large photos. It also should have USB ports. As your subscriber list grows, you’ll want to improve your video quality, and various attachments can help you do that. Another extra option that you should take seriously is a rechargeable battery from the camcorder manufacturer.

The most important thing with your camcorder is that it has some way to easily transfer videos onto your computer. Look for USB outputs or opt for a device that records to SD cards your computer can read. Avoid older technologies, such as VHS camcorders and home Super 8 cameras. There’s nothing wrong with these formats per se, but transferring video from them onto your computer is much, much more difficult and expensive than from a digital camcorder.

As an alternative, a webcam, which most laptops come with, can be useful when you’re recording works in which you want to be shown in front of a computer. Still, many videos made with webcams look amateurish.

Tripod
When filming, use a steadying device such as a tripod. Handhelds will result in shaking. Tripods also will allow you to shoot from different angles than a handheld camera. Your tripod should be able to pan and tilt. If you need to do smooth tracking shots as part of your video, you’ll also need a dolly to set the tripod upon. Always ensure your camera will fit onto your tripod.

Microphone
Your audio ought to be as good as the quality of your video, and your computer’s built-in microphone likely won’t cut it. Purchase a dedicated microphone, as it will minimize the amount of echoing and background noise; this is because the microphone sits closer to your mouth than the one on your camera. Also worth purchasing once you get going is a pop filter, which you place over the microphone to reduce audio feedback, which can be a problem when editing the video.

Lights
Lighting isn’t necessary in some video situations, such as if you’re filming outside or if your narrating something that appears on the computer screen. But if recording indoors, even on days with a lot of sunshine your video can appear dark. Fortunately, lighting doesn’t need to be expensive; work lights found at hardware stores will do the job, albeit it’s unsophisticated.

Whether using work lights or a professional kit, setting up your lighting involves having three separate light sources. One should be behind the camera as it faces you. Another should be at a 45 degree angle to your side and facing the wall behind you. The third light should be opposite of the second source and facing the wall.

Software
After filming your video, you’ll need video editing software for post-production. This allows you to cut and add scenes to your video, to use special effects, and to include tracks of music and sound effects. Anyone using either Windows or an Apple has access to free software (Movie Maker for the former, iMovie for the latter) that comes with their computer or can be downloaded from an app store. These are fine, easy-to-use programs for beginners. Other programs that give you more sophisticated software can be purchased for a relatively low price.

If recording with your webcam, you may need software to handle input; most computers already have it pre-installed, though. If recording content that is on your computer monitor, you’ll need to download third-party software.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

6 tax matters indie authors should consider

Once you’ve set up your self-publishing business – and especially if you expand it to be more than just an author collecting royalties – you’ll have to file additional tax forms beyond the 1040. The good news is you also qualify for some tax deductions, such as your home office and vehicle use. Let’s examine some of the aspects of business taxes that you should consider once you’ve published:
• Tax forms self-published authors must file 
• Why self-published authors must keep records 
• Writers can deduct home office space on taxes 
• Deduct start-up costs on Federal income taxes 
• Indie writers also can use depreciation on taxes 
• Indie authors can deduct vehicle expenses 

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

A plain answer on Barbecue vs. Barbeque

When you go to a restaurant, which of these two should you order?

Barbecue is a noun that either can refer to suspending meat over burning coals on a wooden frame, (In any small Texas town, you probably can find a restaurant with a barbecue out back. ) or a get-together in which food is prepared this way (The Johnsons invited us to a barbecue on Friday night.).

It also can be a verb showing this way of cooking (John plans to barbecue pork.). It also can be used as an adjective describing the way a food was prepared (Max always ordered barbecue ribs when he went out to eat.).

Barbeque means the exact same things and can be used in the exact same ways. It’s merely a variant in spelling – of which there are several, including bar-b-cue, bar-b-que, and BBQ.

Barbecue is the most common spelling of the various versions, however. The variants typically are seem in advertisements and restaurant names.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

5 Prompts for Science Fiction Writers

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life” or “The government outlaws books.” The author then asks “What if?” exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture – that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating – a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance – still doesn’t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

AI corporation
What if an artificial intelligence gained the status of a corporation? What affect would this have on the economy?

Night glasses
What if in the evening you could don glasses that allowed you to see as if it were daylight, sort of the opposite of sunglasses that block the sun? Are there situations when people wouldn’t wear them? What dangers might exist when people do wear them at night?

Retail-less urban landscape
How does our urban landscape change when retailers no longer exist, as everything is delivered via drones from warehouses to consumers? When downtown stores and malls are merely office spaces, how do parks change as a place for people to congregate?

Sniffing computers
What if your computer came with a sense of smell? If it could detect spoiled food, the level of your illness, and toxic material, how would this change your life?

Thinking teeth
What if a thin, invisible sensor could be tattooed to your teeth to detect dangerous bacteria? When it detected plaque buildup, cavities or infection, it would automatically set up an appointment with your dentist.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

Editing client publishes book on Scottsboro Nine

A recent client has published a book that I edited. Peggy Allen Towns’ “Scottsboro Unmasked” retraces the infamous case of the Scottsboro Nine. The unmasked stories of the nine black men falsely accused of raping two white women unfold against the backdrop of an economically depressed town energized by an inferno of bigotry and violence. This groundbreaking research presents the courage of fearless men who rattled America’s conscience by challenging decades of discrimination and injustices within Alabama’s legal system. The book reveals the sentiment of those who embraced the Old South’s ideology of inequality and exclusiveness, which put at risk the lives of nine innocent victims who changed this nation’s judicial system. The book is available online.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.