The “Z” stories voting block is live and running . . . and still not getting much love (votes). At this point, I don’t know why . . . perhaps our readers don’t want it to see it end and are avoiding reading the stories, hoping that will forestall the end.

If you’ve been a loyal reader of our offerings and someone who votes, you have the writer’s unending gratitude.

Links to the stories and the poll for voting for “Alphabet Challenge Z-Stories” are HERE(link). Votes will be accepted until  Noon (Central Time) on Thursday, April 8th, 2021.

So, stuff . . . let me begin with WordPress making another change, this time to the Admin menu(s). You can read about it here (LINK). If it’s confusing, basically, they are making it difficult to find and use the Classic Editor again . . . still. Save your version of the link below to create new posts using the classic editor and to still be able to edit posts using the Classic Editor as described in THIS POST<<link. The menu mentioned in Step 5 of that post is now difficult (if not impossible) to get to via the menu options, but the direct link still works:

https://{blogname}.wordpress.com/wp-admin/edit.php

So, for instance, I would replace “{blogname}” with “disperser”. In that menu, you’ll still be able to create posts using the Classic Editor, and edit posts created with the Classic Editor without having to convert them to the Block Editor. 

Note that WP will tell you the Classic Editor has been deprecated (they actually mean defecated on). They don’t tell you you can still use it, but you can.

OK, so what else?

Well, I’m getting irritated again. Strange that since I actively try to avoid irritations. But, stuff intrudes.

For example, some of the writing sites I subscribe to are urging me “support Asians”. I mean, they’ve previously urged me to support women and POC (people of color — they don’t specify which color, and until now, I thought it included Asians), but now they are getting specific.

I object to the choice of words; “support” is different from “consider”. Apparently, I’m to buy from Asians, women, and POC, period. Understand, it’s not presented as a suggestion. Au contraire, mes chers lecteurs; I’m a horrible human being if I don’t buy books by minority authors (yes, this is in the context of the publishing industry).

I have only one criterium when I buy books . . . it’s whether I like them or not. I rarely look at the names of authors, agents, editors, or publishing houses. I read the synopsis of the plot and if it sounds interesting, I’ll risk the money and time investment. IF I like the book, I’ll see if the author has other books. If I hated the book, I’ll take note of the author’s name for the opposite reason.

. . . I have a specific and narrow preference in books. I avoid is drama, angst, personal tragedy, a bleak view of the world, and suffering. I don’t care if there’s a happy ending; I don’t like the emotional road I have to travel to get there.

This is not a denial of the reality of life. I am well aware of the suffering and misery in the world. Believe me when I tell you I don’t need a reminder of it when I’m reading fiction. In fact, I read fiction to get away from all that stuff.

Here’s the thing . . . editors these days are specifically asking for works that highlight the plight and suffering of women, POC, and — apparently — Asians in particular, at least this week. Then, they ask me to buy those offerings.

No can do. I want adventure, gunplay, honorable heroes, bad guys getting their asses handed them in a platter, and every stereotypical character reflecting real-world assholes to meet with a bad ending.

Let me be clear about this . . . if a woman, POC, or Asian writes a story with adventure, gunplay, honorable heroes, bad guys getting their asses handed them in a platter, and every stereotypical character reflecting real-world assholes to meed with a bad ending . . . well then, I will buy that book.

Besides, I almost exclusively watch anime . . . does that count as supporting Asians?

OK, that’s enough of that. How about this: Grammarly has helped me become a better writer. I get a weekly report, and this week’s report reads like this . . .

Here are my top 3 mistakes:

So, the ellipsis are something I don’t agree with . . . I like using them, so to me they aren’t unnecessary. Plus, that’s not technically a mistake; unnecessary is not the same as wrong, is it?

The double period comes about because of the way I edit in WordPress. I always have a period to the right of my cursor position because that way, when I hit “enter” and go to a new line WordPress won’t change the color of my font. Of course, at the end of a sentence and until I continue editing, Grammarly flags the two periods as an error.

The missing comma is a misnomer . . . Grammarly and I have different ideas as to where I need a comma and where I don’t. Sometimes I agree with them, and often, I don’t.

Recently, they’ve begun identifying “tone” . . .

Now, all of those things are interesting, but they depend on what I’m writing. The program doesn’t differentiate between fiction, a blog post, an email, or even a document written by someone else.

For instance, the high word-count in that report is because this past week I edited Perry’s and Gary’s “Z” stories submissions in addition to my own.  Here’s the previous week, with fewer words . . .

And here’s my tone during that week . . .

So, why do I say I’ve improved? Well, let’s look back to March 2017 . . .

. . . er . . . well, I’ll be!

I’ve not improved at all! Sad.

That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below.

<><o><><><><><><><o><>

Note: if you are not reading this blog post at DisperserTracks.com, know that it’s copied without permission, and likely is being used by someone with nefarious intentions, like attracting you to a malware-infested website. Could be they also torture small mammals.

Note 2: it’s perfectly OK to share a link that points back here.

<><o><><><><><><><o><>

If you’re new to this blog, it might be a good idea to read the FAQ page. If you’re considering subscribing to this blog, it’s definitively a good idea to read both the About page and the FAQ page.