As the server for the Young Writers Society goes by Pacific Time, there’s still actually three hours left of July as I write this. However, not much isn’t going to change between now and then. So here are some stats for the month of July:
Posts: 10,151
New Users: 138
New Topics: 796
Page Views: 320,000
Visits: 20,550
Average Time on [...]
Hyperbole is another one of those famous literary terms and means to exaggerate, usually grossly exaggerate. “He’s as big as a house,” or “I’m as hungry as a horse,” are two famous ones, but you can come up with them aplenty. So try coming up with a few yourself!
Quid Pro Quo: “What for What”
- Used when doing a favor for someone in exchange for a favor.
Solid matter - for example, a rock - is, in actual faqt, largely made up of empty space.
An atom is comprised of a nucleus (the bit in the middle), and electrons zipping around it. At the very least, I’m sure you’ve seen diagrams of them in your science classes. And if you haven’t, [...]
There is a common belief that writers who are any good (and of course, if you are reading this, then you have to be good) generally suck at math. Well, we’re going to change that.
Let’s start with the basics: counting. It sounds really simple… one, two, three, and then it goes on all the [...]
Tempus Rerum Imperator: “Time Commands All Things.”
- The motto of the “Worshipful Company of Clockmakers,” which is one of the livery companies in London.
Allusion is one of those very popular literary terms, with students and English teachers alike. It typically means to make a brief reference to a historical event or another piece of literature. However, allusion can also mean to make a brief reference to a person or a place as well. Shakespeare [...]
If you aren’t getting any writing done, why not close the browser, the instant messenger, the chat, the book, shut off the phone, the TV, etc, and actually open your word processor and try to write? If I did this, I know I would get a lot more done.
It’s like that with insomniacs too. Most [...]
Tomorrow I’m flying on my own via Minneapolis all the way to San Francisco, some 5000 miles away. It’s a bit of a trip for me, really. I’ve never travelled on my own before. Bit daunting, to say the least. Exciting too, though.
The reason I’m posting this up here is because there’s a mini YWS [...]
You guys, you all have to dance. I’m ordering you to. I just got back from an English country dance, which is the style of dancing they did back in Pride and Prejudice times. A family we know has been putting these dances on since time immemorial, and we learned about them from a mutual [...]
Salus Populi Suprema Lex Esto: “The Welfare of the People is to be the Highest Law.”
This phrase comes courtesy of Cicero, and is quoted by John Locke in describing the proper organization of government.
Today’s literary term is ‘Euphony,’ meaning soothing, pleasant words. In most cases, poetry is euphonic as it is pleasing to read or listen to, and the most famous euphonic phrase is “cellar door,” which is considered to be the most beautiful phrase in the English language. To achieve euphony, many writers typically use [...]
Well, I’ve decided to start doing a Quote of the Week here in the blog. Mostly because I love quotes and they take up a massive part of my brain that could be put to something useful, but also because I think everyone should have a few good quotes to pull out of their [...]
Just leave the link in the comments! If you link to the Young Writers Society in your blog, then we’ll link to your blog here.
Look for ‘young writers’ on Google and the first page mostly shows sites that are either defunct, or are as useful as an English teacher who thinks she’s a poet but rhymes ‘Texas’ with ‘fact is.’ Even on Writers Digest Top 101 Sites For Writers, you’ll only find two sites that are meant for young [...]
I’ve always thought that, when it comes to writing communities such as YWS, giving critiques is the hardest part. And glancing through the literary forums, I can see that others share this difficulty.
The first (and easiest) thing most critters look at is spelling and punctuation. These rules are absolutes, and so it’s not hard to [...]
Every so often on the Young Writers Society, a new member posts a piece they wrote recently and are then surprised to find that someone else writes a critique to tell them that “beautiful” is not spelled “bueatifu!” Most of the time, the author will then take the one minute necessary to run a [...]
Learning Latin can prove to be of great use in a variety of instances. For writing, Latin teaches you the roots of many words and a Latin phrase here and there can even add a certain level of distinction to your writing. So every day I will update with a new Latin [...]
Maybe you know what portmanteau is, and maybe you don’t. For those in the know: Congrats! For those not in the know, it’s the combination of two or more words to create a new word. So a portmanteau is a compound word, but not one that’s officially in the English language. [...]
I’ve been randomly about doing things for the past three days, and in all of this I’ve probably missed around 1,000 posts. It makes me feel incredibly behind. And I didn’t have time to check them all, so I lost them all together. I feel out of the loop.
So! Questions:
What have I missed?
How do [...]
According to Webster, Ginormous is now officially a word!
USA Today:
By Adam Gorlick, Associated Press Writer
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — It was a ginormous year for the wordsmiths at Merriam-Webster.
Along with embracing the adjective that combines “gigantic” and “enormous,” the dictionary publishers also got into Bollywood, sudoku and speed dating.
But their interest in India’s motion-picture industry, number puzzles [...]
The summer is quickly coming to an end for me. One and a half more weeks of work, one more saturday babysitting, four days at the lake, and then comes move-back-in day. This is my first “college-student-summer”; three long months went so slow at first, so fast at the end. Personally, I think these three [...]
From The Onion:
July 27, 2007 | Issue 43•30
NEW YORK—Harry Potter fans throughout the world were shocked, disappointed, and outraged to learn last week that J.K. Rowling’s 750-page novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, blatantly answers every looming question [...]
An interesting Associated Press article has some info. on Rowling speaking about the ending as well as what she is going to do next. Read the whole thing!
Personally, I hope she does continue with books set in the wizarding world she has created. True it’s not as deep as Tolkien, but she created a very [...]
Because random posting keeps the YWS blog going:
It’s my birthday!
In other news, I have a box, so now I can put the books that I don’t need on my shelf, into the box! Yay for shelf space!
I would like to take this time to announce that I do not like Vista.
We now return to your normally scheduled programing.
So, Nate finally figured out how to once and for all kill Smoochie!
YWS runs off of phpbb, which uses a MYSQL database to store everything. However, MYSQL has a value called “max_allowed_packet” which specifies the maximum size of data that can be sent at one time. Previously, this value was set to 1 megabyte, which [...]
As you have no doubt noticed, YWS has been experiencing a number of technical problems over the past month. Unfortunately, all solutions to the problems are short-term as the problem at hand is the ever increasing size of YWS. As the site increases by number of members and by number of posts, the virtual private [...]
*freaks out*
I just found out the site is back up, so I’m letting everyone know.
Lets hope it stays!!
