Things that make me go grr...

I had half the post done of More Things I Learned at the SCBWI Conference, and paused to feed my kids.  Well, when I came back, my computer shut down of its own accord and now that post has disappeared.

Grrrr...

Sadly, I have about a half an hour before I have to take my son to the library so I don't have enough time to rewrite the whole thing.  :(

However!  I will write it for Wednesday!  And now that the plague has left my house, I can guarantee you that I will actually have a post.  :)

In other news, while sick and potentially out of my mind, I opened a facebook account.  Check it out!  And after I come back from the library, I promise to visit everyone!  It's been a while since I've had time to thoroughly check out all of your blogs.

So, what have you guys been up to lately?

Teenage Slang--Oh How I Hate Thee

Just three more days of the template experiment. Todays' theme is the Swirly Blue theme. Check in on Friday for the poll.

I'm not a fan of non-words that are meant to make the speaker sound cool, and I never have been. Just the other day I was watching a movie and one of the teenage characters said "chillax," and I shuddered. My stomach has been twisted into a knot ever since. I remember a phrase growing up that always gave me the same reaction: My bad. Ugh. I'm cringing right now just thinking about it.

The writer in me just rebels against this disgusting use of the English language. At times, I feel motivated to go on a crusade to purge the world of the slang infidels! Okay, yes, I go overboard. But it really gets to me and I have no problem calling someone out on it when they say something stupid like that in front of me. Some might call it cruel, obsessive, or nit-picky, but I call it attention to detail.

And you know what? If you're writing YA, you should most definitely stay away from using slang. Though "chillax" may be cool to say today, in a decade or so the next generation is going to laugh at anyone who actually said it. And dating your book like that is a very bad thing.

And uber. Uber is bad too. *shudder*

~Emily White