3 Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But “said” is far less intrusive than “grumbled”, “gasped”, “cautioned”, “lied”. I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with “she asseverated” and had to stop reading and go to the dictionary.

6 Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose”. This rule doesn’t require an explanation. I have noticed that writers who use “suddenly” tend to exercise less control in the application of exclamation points.

8 Avoid detailed descriptions of characters, which Steinbeck covered. In Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”, what do the “Ameri can and the girl with him” look like? “She had taken off her hat and put it on the table.” That’s the only reference to a physical description in the story.

That being said, AL Kennedy has some of his own good advice:

1 Have humility. Older/more experienced/more convincing writers may offer rules and varieties of advice. Consider what they say. However, don’t automatically give them charge of your brain, or anything else – they might be bitter, twisted, burned-out, manipulative, or just not very like you.

This all ties in nicely with something Neil Cross wrote about titles and working titles found on the Scrivener FB page… Who knew working titles of such famous books were so horrible?

Spotted last weekend in Noe Valley along 24th Street. Black with gold detail. The engine was Honda, but I didn’t see the size anywhere (though painted on the block was 1100). The seat said, “BEEF,” which I hope was a favorite food…

One of the cool, cool details was the speedometer. It looks like they use lights to indicate the speed; more lights more speed. Very cool!

The plates were from Connecticut (I believe; CON is what they use there?). Hopefully they’re having a blast riding around the Bay Area!

Here’s the official press release.

Cool! Doug finally uses his blog!

Short, succinct, with all the information I need to determine if I want to bother, which in my example I’m probably not too interested…

I’d be curious to hear what people’s thoughts might be concerning the incursion of the Super Bowl on Valentine’s Day (which should happen in 2016) and how this will affect gender relationships, if at all.

COLORADO SPRINGS — This tax-averse city is about to learn what it looks and feels like when budget cuts slash services most Americans consider part of the urban fabric.

More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.

The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.

Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.

Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.

City recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding to stay open. Buses no longer run on evenings and weekends. The city won’t pay for any street paving, relying instead on a regional authority that can meet only about 10 percent of the need.

Yet the more I thought about it, the more I came to appreciate what was happening, especially in places where people are averse to taxes. “You don’t want to pay taxes, then here are the consequences.” I think this is pretty much what the state of California needs to do. You don’t want to repeal Prop 13? You want to keep heaping on voter initiatives that cost the state money? Then you will have to deal with the consequences and, like Colorado Springs, it will be painful.

I tend to not to go in for these folk remedies and favor hard science (though as everyone knows, it is sometimes far from “hard” as new discoveries are made). Never the less, I went in with an open mind and while I don’t know if it will help, it was an amazingly relaxing experience. Once the needles were inserted I was left in the darkened room by myself for about 40 minutes. If you had asked me how long it was, I would have said ten or fifteen at best. During that time I meditated and let my mind wander. Weirdly I saw a lot of faces. Most of them I didn’t know but Rosa and my Mom’s were in there, as well as my friend from Prague, Richmond.

Afterwards, when heading to my motorcycle, I felt very calm. I felt very light and yet very grounded to the earth. Heavy and light at the same time. It was a nice feeling… Very pohoda.

I wouldn’t recommend acupuncture for everyone, but for me it was extremely relaxing and, who knows, it might even help me in the long run.