Hope everyone had a good new year’s day and settled in with all of the resolutions.
Last clichés:
With bated breath—Holding one’s breath back in expectation. To restrain is to bate, but now this verb bate is rarely heard except in this cliché, which has an archaic sound and often is used ironically. Shakespeare used it in The Merchant of Venice (1:3)
Made my Day—Made me very happy, restored my confidence, gratified me. This is a 20th century expression and it relies on the meaning of make as “succeed.” But, In Dirty Harry, played by Clint Eastood, the phrase was used as “Go ahead—make my day,” meaning “Give me a chance to get back at you.” George H.W. Bush used the phrase quite often in 1988 during his presidential campaign and Ronald Reagan used it before him, and it was not always clear which meaning was intended.
Put all one’s eggs in one basket—To risk all one’s resources in a single venture. You’d think this was an old proverb, but the same idea used to be put as trusting all one’s goods to one ship, which antedates it by many centuries. “Putting all one’s eggs in the same basket,” incurs the risk that the basket will be droped and all the egss will break, was first stated only in 1710, in Samuel Palmer’s Moral Essays on Proverbs. Mark Twain contradicted the idea in Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894).
Ifs, ands, or buts—Restrictions or reservations; excuses. This expression actually mingles two older ones, ifs and ands with but me no buts. The first dates from the 16th century, was more or less the equivalent of wishful thinking, and its most famous version is Charles Kingsley’s rhyme of 1850: “If ifs and ans were pots and pans, there’d be no trade for tinkers.” Almost as old is “but me no buts,” meaning make no objections or excuses, which according to Eric Partridge was made popular by Sir Walter Scott’s use of it in The Antiquary (1816). The current cliché is often used as a negative imperative.
So, how many did you find?
I’ll be sending out my edited novel Vanity Killed to beta readers for a final edit. Now I’m looking for a book designer. I contacted my Night Terror book designer and she’s busy until mid-February. And, she only works with you if she can sit down personally with you. I don’t think so, but that’s how she does it. Well that’s hard to do when I’m in another state for the winter.
So no what? I’ve googled book designers. There are many. I’ll talk to the old-boy network in my new writer group to get their ideas on who they use. I don’t want to find someone who’s a round peg in a square hole.
However, I might be going back earlier, so I may try using the designer I used with Night Terror. Mary Mitchell Designs worked with me closely, tries to save money, and I liked the cover design of my first book. She also helped me with the layout of the inside, giving me pointers on how to do that part. She has a form you fill out to help you as a writer as well as her as the designer to figure out the cover of your book. She also creates e-book covers, a banner for facebook and your web page, and a jpg for bookmarks.
Maybe I’ll go back early and use Mary Mitchell Designs after all.
Have any suggestions?
Until next time,
Keep Writing,
Julie
Learn more about me and designing book covers:
