Lex Icon Lexargy

RIP Elmore Leonard

Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing

1. Never open a book with weather.
2. Avoid prologues.
3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely.
5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
6. Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9. Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

And the most important rule is one that sums up the 10.

• "If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it."

Other great Leonard quotes:

• “Skip the boring parts.”
• “It's my attempt to remain invisible, not distract the reader from the story with obvious writing.”
• “I started out of course with Hemingway when I learned how to write. Until I realized Hemingway doesn't have a sense of humor. He never has anything funny in his stories.”
• “It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to sound like it does.”
• “Psychopaths... people who know the differences between right and wrong, but don't give a shit. That's what most of my characters are like.”

My favorite one of his works was Get Shorty, but he wrote all sorts of great stuff. If you aren't familiar with him, check out his official website here: http://www.elmoreleonard.com/

Naka's 99th

The first bonsai master I ever knew, John Yoshio Naka, would have been 99 years old today. Naka is considered the father of American bonsai. This is his masterpiece, a Foemina forest called "Goshin":

It can be seen at the U.S. National Aboretum, now open only on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays.

August Planning for Fall Gardening

I've taken up gardening. We turned our side yard from a junk storage area into a garden. Our first harvests were a little disappointing, because we had some trees overshading the vegetable beds, so I had them cut down. Here's what I'm doing to prepare my Fall garden. I live in Zone 10, so your plans might not be the same:

• Watering more than usual - deep morning watering to leech out built up alkalinity
• Harvesting fruits and vegetables as they ripen
• Planting vegetable seedlings and sowing seed for fall harvests
• I choose lettuce, cabbage, climbing beans, broccoli, cucumber, onion, squash, watermelon
• I might add carrots, parsley, radishes, cauliflower, Swiss chard and beets
• Eggplant and celery are good, too, but I'm not planting those
• Picking herbs to dry
• Preparing rose beds for fall planting of new potted roses
• Pruning hybrid roses
• Fertilizing plants with Fall colors with high nitrogen
• Fertilizing summer annuals and container plants with balance, like a 10-10-10
• Applying acid plant food
• Feeding the citrus trees
• Spraying plants hard with the hose to remove pests
• Dividing spring flowering perennials
• Buying seeds for winter annuals
• Planting seeds for perennials
• I'm adding columbines, pansies, violas, snapdragons, forget-me-nots
• Pruning and fertilizing everything in the hanging baskets
• Planting Fall blooming bulbs
• Buying bulbs that require a winter chill
• Spreading new layers of manure and compose as needed
• Taking cuttings of plants I want to propagate
• Checking for and removing damaged/diseased foliage

We won blue ribbons at the local fair this year for our pears, apples, plums, grapes, cantaloupe, lemons and container plants. We won red ribbons for the zucchini and limes. I'm probably forgetting one or two things.