January 2025

As my calendar marks the end of January 2025, I realize how easily my steady rhythm of writing, editing, cooking, tutoring, and reading has made me lose track of time. The days have blurred together, particularly since harsh weather has kept me home. Yet, looking back, the month has been full.

Though the days felt repetitive, much has happened in these first weeks of the year. I've kept busy with my furry companions and various pursuits — following the devastating fires in Los Angeles, listening to audiobooks, and diving into webinars on health, gardening, and other interests. 

Today is special. Hoppoo, Pishi, and I celebrate Looloo’s birthday — fourteen years since Hoppoo and Koochooloo’s boy came into the world.

Thank you, Koochooloo, for bringing Looloo into my life. I miss you every day.

Happiness

An Echo

If you've read Languages & Life Lessons, you know that I grew up in France. 

In France, during the 1970s, many schools were closed on Wednesdays, particularly in primary and secondary education. This half-day or no-school Wednesday tradition was part of the educational system at the time. The reasoning behind it was to give children more time for extracurricular activities and to allow families some breathing space during the middle of the week. The practice has since evolved, but in the 1970s, Wednesday was definitely a different kind of day in French schools.

Even though it was a long time ago, there’s still something about Wednesdays that feels different — like a quiet echo from those childhood days, forever etched in the rhythm of the week.

Location... Location... Location!

Words can change the meaning of a sentence depending on where they’re placed in the sentence. My focus here is specifically on adverbs and adjectives. We need to pay attention to the word we want to modify. 

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.
Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns that replace nouns. 

Sometimes, we may think we're using an adverb when we actually need an adjective because the word we really need to modify is a noun or a pronoun.

Here's an example:
I almost ate the whole pie. 
This sentence may be used to indicate that I ate most of a pie, but it really means I came close to eating the entire pie but didn’t. I may not have even touched it. The adverb "almost" (meaning not quite) comes before "ate" (the action), so the action may not have happened at all.

Here's another example:
I only called you. 
This sentence may be used to show I didn't call anyone else, but it really means I didn’t text or contact "you" in any other way. If we want to express that we didn't call others, we should say:
I called only you.

So we should always pay attention to where we place our modifiers.

Productivity

Moliere

Molière, a seventeenth-century French playwright renowned for his sharp wit and timeless comedies, satirized societal norms, hypocrisy, and human folly. 

Molière particularly focused on doctors in his plays to critique the pretensions and incompetence of the medical profession in seventeenth-century France. Medicine at the time was heavily reliant on outdated practices which were often ineffective or harmful. 

By mocking doctors, Molière exposed their tendency to prioritize status and wealth over genuine patient care, highlighting the hypocrisy within the profession. This critique also served as a broader commentary on human gullibility and the misuse of authority, resonating with audiences who were already skeptical of doctors. His plays provided both entertainment and sharp social criticism.

Molière himself suffered from poor health, and his firsthand experiences with doctors likely influenced his portrayal of them. He may have found their treatments ineffective or their attitudes insincere, which fueled his comedic critiques. Molière's doctors stubbornly defended their ineffective practices...

Today, we face our own version of this with modern medicine's overreliance on quick fixes — endless prescriptions for symptoms instead of cures and an industry incentivized to prioritize profit over health. We grapple with a system where chronic illnesses are managed, not resolved, and patients are caught in a cycle of dependency.

Moliere's world and ours may differ in tools, but the underlying problems remain hauntingly similar.

Word Hunt

When I get stuck in my writing, I usually read or get up and stretch or go for a walk or make tea, and this somehow helps because when I come back to my laptop, I know what to do next. 

I recently learned a new strategy — going on a word hunt. Here's what I do:
I set a timer for 15 minutes, pick a book or magazine... or scroll through Instagram reels, and look for words that make me smile or just sound fun to say. I jot them down. When the timer stops, I challenge myself to use at least three of those words in my next paragraph. 

This playful exercise shakes up our brain, adds freshness to our writing, and might even spark a new idea.

It works... Try it!

Nine

New Projects

I'm excited to announce that a few new projects are in the works... I'll share more soon. 

Bridges

Cold Day - 3

This is the third — and hopefully last — cold day of this spell. I plan to finish my audiobook today as I look forward to rising temperatures tomorrow. It will still be extremely cold, but not as paralyzing as the last few days have been. I'm grateful that my furry friends are still doing well despite the weather. I'm also grateful for the technology which has allowed me to watch movies, listen to audiobooks, learn from webinars, and connect with others.

Cold Day - 2

It's still cold, considering I'm not living in Alaska. My activities are limited; therefore, so is my productivity. I've decided that surviving these low temperatures and keeping my fur babies warm in the process is enough for these cold days. I'm grateful for audiobooks, movies, and podcasts.

Cold Day - 1

It's super cold 🥶 here today... and I am spending the day scrolling through reels and listening to an audiobook. That's pretty much all I feel like doing in this cold weather. I have one leg in my dogs' sleeping bag, which keeps them comfortable in there because they know I'm not going anywhere. The cat seems cozy in all of her resting corners.

Warmth

Book Review

Placeholders

I was thinking about the origins of words like thingamajig and whatchamacallit. These words are playful placeholders that step in when the actual word escapes us, yet they reveal a fascinating quirk of language: our creativity under pressure. Each placeholder has its own vibe. For example, thingy feels casual, while gizmo might suggest something techy. These words remind us that language is a playground for imagination, ready to adapt when the right word hides behind the tip of our tongue.

Action!

In nonfiction, especially personal essays and memoirs, it’s tempting to set the stage perfectly before getting to the real story, but often the most engaging pieces dive straight into the heart of the action.

For instance, instead of starting with “It was a sunny day when I decided to hike the mountain,” we should try: “I was halfway up the mountain when I realized I’d forgotten water.”

The first sentence should make readers curious, and starting with action, a question, or even a vivid detail pulls your readers in immediately.

When you're editing, look at your first paragraph and ask yourself: Am I setting the stage, or am I telling the story? If it’s the former, consider chopping it and jumping to where it really gets interesting.

Brilliant

Book Review

Pawsome Creative Fiction

Pun-Pulsing Purr is the purr-fect example of creative fiction, straight from the imaginative mind of the illustrious Pishi Pooch, whose dazzling memoir blurs the line between reality and fiction. In her debut work, the cat-turned-author weaves wordplay and wit into an unforgettable tale that showcases her paw-sitively unique perspective on life and shares her most purr-sonal reflections with a twist of wordplay and whimsy. As her humble editor, I can only marvel at the feline genius behind this pawsome literary creation.

Linguistic Fireworks

Language hands us ready-made phrases, but what if we gave them a playful spin? It would be like sprinkling glitter on everyday speech.

Think of words as puzzle pieces waiting for new combinations. Why settle for clichés when you can create your own linguistic fireworks?

My View

Author Pishi Pooch

Pishi is working on her next book...

www.pishipooch.blogspot.com

A Wish Come True

I truly believe the universe gives us what we want when we use our words, spoken or written.

For example, when I first came to Arkansas, I said, "I really want to go fishing, at least once, while I'm here." Nearly seven years later, the universe has granted my wish. Of course, I didn't mean fishing for cat poop out of a litterbox... I guess I should have been more specific.

Book Review

First Draft

On September 10, 2024, I shared a post: 
https://afarinrava.blogspot.com/2024/09/novel-first-draft.html

Today, January 6, 2025, I will begin the editing process.

I read my first draft this morning, and yes, it's messy, but it may not be as "poopy" — I love your book Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott! — as I thought. 

Reading my draft after such a long time made me realize that my subconscious mind may have led me to write certain parts in a particular way to allow my future self to stumble into brilliant ideas... like a plot twist I didn't see coming. 

So... when you finish your first draft and get ready for round one of editing, instead of cringing at the chaos, ask yourself: Why did I write this? Your subconscious might just have a genius reason. Trust the process — think of your draft as a treasure map, and think of every strange choice as an X marking the spot.

Book Review Video

Albert Camus

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer." 
Albert Camus

Acronyms & Initialisms

Acronyms and initialisms are both abbreviations made from the first letters of words, but the key difference is how they’re pronounced. 

Acronyms, like NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) or SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus), are pronounced as words. 

Initialisms, like FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) or ATM (Automated Teller Machine), are spoken letter by letter. 

Think of it this way: acronyms roll off the tongue as a single word, while initialisms make you spell it out. For example, NASA is an acronym, but FBI is an initialism. 

Both acronyms and initialisms are types of abbreviations. Abbreviations are the umbrella term for any shortened form of a word or phrase, and acronyms and initialisms are just two specific ways to do it. So all acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, but not all abbreviations are acronyms or initialisms — for example, “Dr.” for “Doctor” or “St.” for “Street.”

Some abbreviations, like FAQ, can go either way depending on who’s saying it — initialism, pronounced eff-ay-cue, or acronym, pronounced fak. 

Book Review

2025