Apr 28, 2010

X is for Xyster and other fun stuff.


Do you know what a xyster is? It's a tool used by surgeons for scrapping bones (for grafting or preparing for a biopsy). What does this have to do with writing? Good question. It brings me back to yesterday's post of mistakes writers make (as told by Mark Twain).  

One rule Twain held for fiction writing was "crass stupidities shall not be played upon the reader". What this means is you shouldn't assume your writer is ignorant about the setting or topic of your novel. Do your homework and make sure the information in your fiction is fact.

If you have a story about a surgeon falling in love with his nurse, it may be that you were just interested in a hunky doctor love story, but you better write realistic surgery scenes. The surgeon would not prepare the bone with 'file-like' instrument, he or she would use a xyster (a file-like instrument).

X is also for XXXX, which is a popular beer in Australia:

Relevance? Well, I thought I might need a few to come up with an X post, but decided drinking wasn't the answer, otherwise my post might turn XXX  ;-).
  
X is the mark on my calendar today:

Why? Because it's my birthday! And X is also a symbol for kisses and I had plenty of those for my family, because they got me:
A Kindle!!!
So hopefully you'll understand the brevity of this post - I need to play!

18 comments:

  1. Clever use of the letter X

    Just for the record however, XXXX is not a popular beer in Australia. Most beer-loving Aussies will spit that stuff out ;)

    Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! You lucky thing you!

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  2. Happy birthday! Ok, now we're never going to hear from you again. Your kindle is going to eat you alive!

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  3. Lynda - I don't know, we have a fair sized yobbo ratio, but you're right, I've never ordered a XXXX, I'll usually go a Crown Lager instead.

    Alliterative Allomorph, yup, I'm going to move into my Kindle, I'm sure I could live there :-)

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  4. Wonderful post! and happy birthday :o)) XXXX

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  5. HAPPPPPPY Birthday you lucky little Kindle owner. :)

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  6. Happy Birthday. Have fun playing with your new Kindle.

    Mason
    Thoughts in Progress

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  7. Okay, finding out what a xyster is used for almost made me lose my breakfast.

    However, since it's your birthday, I'll deal with it ;)

    Happy Birthday and enjoy your Kindle!!

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  8. Congrats on your kindle and happy birthday!

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  9. Wow, Happy Birthday to you and have fun with your kindle...yay!

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  10. I'm impressed with all these x words. Who knew? Especially the surgical tool!

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  11. Thanks for all the well wishes! I had a blast for my birthday and even enjoyed explaining to people at my local cafe, just what a Kindle is. :-)

    Now, just Y and Z to go...

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  13. Ooh! It's your birthday? Happy birthday! I was coming to tell you that there's an award waiting for you at my blog:

    http://dutchhillnews.blogspot.com/2010/04/creative-writer-award.html

    Let's pretend I knew it was your birthday and the award is your present. :D

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  14. Happy Birthday! I hope you got cake with your Kindle.

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  15. Oh yay -- Happy Birthday! I hope it was wonderful. If that Kindle is any indication, I know it was!!

    Excellent post -- I really enjoyed it!

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