T.J. Klune Anthology

I’ve posted about the gathering of authors and readers coming together to support authors, T.J. Klune and Eric Arvin, since last December…Christmastime, here in several places. Arvin went through a very serious medical crisis and people associated with the m/m genre literally ran to their sides to support them in all kinds of ways that just rocked. Even people who didn’t know them very well offered some kind of support. Klune and Arvin’s devastating circumstances hit me hard because it reminded me so closely of a very serious health crisis I went through with my husband, Tony, in 2007. As a result, I think more friendships were formed and it reminded us all that there are so many important things in this life we often take for granted.

And now, as Arvin is beginning to recuperate and Klune is finally seeing the light at the end of that proverbial tunnel, the support still continues. E-publisher, Dreamspinner Press, just launched an anthology where all the proceeds will go to Klune and Arvin to help offset medical expenses and all things related to a major medical crisis. My husband, Tony, had excellent medical insurance at the time of his health crisis in 2007. He was hospitalized on May 4th of that year and was not discharged until Labor Day weekend, 2007. That four month stay in the hospital left a hospital bill that reached two million dollars. I am not exaggerating this. So medical expenses alone can be devastating, not to mention other related expenses people don’t always take into consideration.

A group of authors banned together and created the anthology, Grand Adventures. Here’s more about that from the Dreamspinner web site.

 On September 1, 2011, TJ Klune wrote, “…it’s not about the ending, it’s about the journey…” in a review of Eric Arvin’s Woke Up in a Strange Place. With those words, two men began a journey of love and invited us to ride along. TJ and Eric have shared so much with us: their wonderful books, their smiles, their humor, their lives, and their inspiring devotion to each other. In December of 2013, their journey took a detour when Eric was taken to the emergency room. He survived the surgery to remove a cavernous hemangioma from his brain stem, but the challenges TJ and Eric face are far from over.

The authors in this anthology donated their talent as a way to support Eric’s continued recovery, to help bring strength to TJ, and to show both of them just how much love surrounds them. Grand Adventures is a diverse range of stories about the journey of love. We’re going on some grand adventures for a great cause. Thank you for joining us.

One hundred percent of the income from this volume goes directly to TJ and Eric.

You can get there from here to check it out.

Oxford Comma?

This is one of those writing “things” that’s always been debatable, at least since I can recall. The Oxford Comma, also known as the “Serial Comma,” is a comma used before a conjunction when there’s a list of three or more things…I went tot he store to buy eggs, butter, and milk.

I’ve always followed the Chicago Manual which supports the Oxford Comma and I’ve always used it…in books with publishers and in my indie books. I even use it in blog posts, e-mails, and anything I write.

As I said, there has always been an ongoing debate and some prefer not to use it. And this article talks about it and gives a link to a quiz.

Do you regularly use the oxford comma in your writing? The animated video embedded above features a three-minute TED-Ed lesson called “Grammar’s Great Divide: The Oxford Comma.”

This linguistics lesson focuses on the debate between those for and against what is “perhaps the most hotly contested punctuation mark of all time.” Back in 2011, the University of Oxford Writing and Style Guide noted that use of the serial comma should be generally avoided.

From everything I’ve ever heard this is all a matter of opinion and you can’t go wrong either way. It’s personal style and taste…as long as you keep it consistent. In other words, if you’re going to use the Oxford Comma in a piece, keep it consistent throughout. Same goes for if you choose not to use it.

You can read more here about the Oxford Comma.

Penis on Denver TV;

This story really is the best example I’ve ever seen when it comes to checking your digital photos are carefully as you can…and why you should never trust a photo stream unless you’ve glanced through it first. It could get embarrassing.

KDVR-TV’s “Good Day” program scrolled live through a Twitter feed of pictures from the KOMO-TV news helicopter crash scene, until the next images included Edward Scissorhands, a plate of food, and then a penis poking through a man’s zipper.

“That’s Edward Scissorhands, so we’ll just … just ignore that,” anchor Kirk Yuhnke said on air as the image flashed on screen.

The other anchors covered their mouths astonished to what they just saw, as the other broadcasters continued with the report.

You can see a youtube clip of the actual scene as it happened on the air and how the anchors reacted, as well as the penis everyone’s talking about. That poor woman on the far right almost fell off her chair.

And this happened to be a very serious news item about the helicopter crash in Seattle. Not good. And I have to wonder if it’s a good thing that we’ve all become so trusting. I would have checked those photos out first before I allowed them to be aired…or I wouldn’t have aired them at all. I once went to a party where a guy was showing photos of his container garden and right between a photo of his over-sized geraniums and impatiens was a photo of his over-sized penis. He wasn’t too thrilled about that either.

There’s a reason why they have a way to delete photos like this.