Deanna Hoak

Yes, I know I haven’t posted in a bit. I’m fine. I’m taking a break, relaxing, unwinding, spending time with the kids. It’s important for me to realize when I need that and to take care of myself. Partly this has involved letting myself play WoW after a year’s absence. :-D (You guys know what [...]

Wow. I wish I lived anywhere near Rochester so I could take my kiddos to this haunted house made entirely from balloons. How cool is that? And look! I went through all of the almost two hundred pictures in the gallery and pulled the best ones for you. :-)

Everyone has those things that feel sexy to them. I don’t mean the things that make you feel sexy–though that can be part of it. I mean actual tactile sensation. For me, finding a pair of jeans that fits me just right, snugs me close in all the right places, so that I feel them [...]

An author friend of mine noted to me that a lot of writers might not understand the copyediting marks on their manuscripts, and I thought a post detailing some of the most common marks might be helpful. Even the cleanest manuscript will come back marked up. Individually designed elements such as chapter numbers and titles [...]

This clever husband-and-wife team have designed some hardcover book jackets that give snoopers pause: Titles include How to Murder a Complete Stranger and Get Away with It and How to Overcome Nymphomania. Fun for you subway riders with a perverse sense of humor. :-)

Jupiter’s Oval BA storm (the Red Spot Jr.) is getting stronger and redder. The Great Red Spot has always fascinated me. It’s amazing to think of a storm three times the size of Earth. It’ll be interesting to see what its little brother–which is “only” the size of our planet–is up to in the coming [...]

I notice my Technorati rank for this blog finally made it below 100,000 this week. That’s not too bad, really, considering how many folks still link the LJ. What I need to do, of course, is come up with more copyediting posts that folks will find interesting enough to link. I have one good topic [...]

Here’s a cute game to play–have the sound on for the comments by the snarky skull. You have to try losing at least once. ;-)

So back in May, Neil Gaiman noted on his blog that Amazon was advertising the first volume of Absolute Sandman (which is leather-bound, recolored, oversized…) for $14.99. He mused that it might be a computer glitch, but I put it in my cart thinking I had nothing to lose. I’ve never read any Neil Gaiman [...]

I found this story amusing. Famed auction house Christie’s was put in charge of a massive collection of Star Trek memorabilia, and they underestimated by more than $4 million how much money it would bring in. They had this cool 78-inch replica of the Enterprise, for instance, that was used on Next Generation, and they [...]