Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve written on my blog, but I’m finally caught up, sort of, and here I am again.
First the last cliches:
kept up with the Joneses- means to attempt to live in the style of one’s more affluent neighbors or acquaintances. Comes from a cartoonist named Arthur R. (Pop) Momand. He used it as the title for a series run in the New York Globe from 1913 as well as other papers for several decades. It was based on his own experiences as a newly wed artist living in an affluent New York suburb on a limited salary. By mid-century was a cliche.
jump in with both feet-means to enter wholeheartedly. Phrase is redundant–jump means to leap with the feet together as opposed to hop on one foot. 20th Century Americanism, may allude to jumping into a pool, rather than testing the water with one foot.
come to pass-means to happen. Most famous occurrence of this phrase = beginning of the Christmas story in Gospel of St. Luke (2:1) “And it came to pass in those days, … Already a cliche by about 1700.
to get one’s second wind-means to proceed with renewed vigor after a lapse. This alludes to athletes, after initial breathlessness, warm up and resume their regular breathing. In early 20th Century, this was transferred to other kinds of undertakings. See The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey (1946)
to go hog wild-means to go berserk; to go crazy with excitement. Americanism dating from about 1905 and is a mysterious metaphor. Might refer to manic struggles of animals being taken away for slaughter or maybe an unseemly enthusiasm, like hogs being associated with negative characteristics.
So how many did you find?
Second, I’d like to take my hat off to Blake Webster of Media Design Services for helping me get this website up and running. He transferred my original blog WriterJaw’s Tidbits into my website and helped me so much. Thank you.
If you’ve read my about page, you know I have a few pre-published novels. My Night Terror Arsonist is completed and I decided to have it edited. I have to thank Ana Manwaring from JAM Manuscript Services for this task. Take it from me, this was well worth having this book edited. It was like having your own private instructor teaching you what works and what doesn’t, and it didn’t cost me an arm and a leg. I learned a lot and am busy re-editing my novel. The most important thing I learned was that I write psychological thrillers or at least that’s what this book is. Why is that important? Because I thought I was writing a mystery and there is a big difference between a thriller and a mystery. Thank you, Ana.
So now I’m spending my time going over all of her comments, cross-outs, suggestions and corrections, and re-writing. It was a great experience, and one that I would do again.
So keep writing!
Julie
