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edited May 2008 in - WM and WN
On page 14 of the June issue:

"The Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University is lunching a new literary competition ... " :)

Comments

  • edited May 2008
    Yum! I love the taste of literary competitions but you've got to be careful the verbs don't get stuck in your teeth.
  • In 'Publishing Snippets' (page 27 WM).

    Internet sales over Christmas, by type of purchase as percentage of total sales:-
    DVDd, videos and games - 24% of purchases
    Clothing and accesories - 36%
    Books - 46%

    Somebody can't add up.....
  • smart of you to spot that, Heather!
  • Thought my maths was bad! :-)
  • DVDs, videos and games - 24% of purchases
    Clothing and accesories - 36%
    Books - 46%

    "Mathematics for dummies instructions" - 6%
  • Sounds yummy
  • "Somebody can't add up..... "

    Hmmm.

    Does it not mean that 46% of all book purchases were online purchases; and so on?

    Surely it can't be a percentage of total internet sales because - regardless of the maths - people buy things other than those on the internet.
  • It was given as a percentage of the total of those categories. (i.e. percentage out of DVDs, videos, games, clothing, accessories and books)

    I paraphrased above as it was quite wordy.
  • "It was given as a percentage of the total of those categories"

    Now I'm confused!

    So it's saying that 24% of DVD purchases occurred via the internet; 36% of clothes and accessories were purchased via the internet; etc?

    If so, there's no problem with the maths.

    If not, then it's just weird.
  • No, themoabird, it's not saying that.

    It's saying that, out of internet sales in the noted categories, 24% of sales were accounted for by DVDs etc, 36% by clothes etc. 46% by books. It adds up to 106% when it should be 100%. It is quite clear in the article that this is the way it is meant.
  • Yeah, but was that what the writer intended?!
  • Hmmm. I wonder if the story comes from here:

    http://www.nielsen.com/media/2008/pr_080128b.html

    Okay - the figures aren't quite right, but it makes sense of them: 45% of people have bought books online in the last three months; 36% clothes; etc.

    Which would make sense.

    I realise that I'm coming across as bizarrely obsessed with this! :-)
  • It's like a lot of stuff now days- if you're not careful it can be read different ways. :)
  • I'm confused. :-)
  • By what?
  • Everything. Percentages, life, missing darts and life. Oh help! I'm rambling. :-)
  • Overload on the first day back! :)
  • I should imagine it's just a typo - they put in 36 instead of 30 (0s being notoriously difficult to tell from 6s in some people's handwriting). Or maybe 46 instead of 40.
  • typoes are scattered right across WN and WM sometimes.
  • Hey Liz. Love your avatar.
  • In a book I've just finished, there were quite a few typos. Though I thought the book was brilliant, I feel a bit smug, as the publishers keep ignoring my CVs... Hehehehehe :D *evil grin*
  • Ma hated typos but she would have laughed her socks off at the memorial notice in the local rag:

    Loving wife of Norma.

    Who the heck is Norma? I never knew my ma was gay. Boy oh boy we have both laughed over that one. :-P :-P :-P :-P :-P :-P
  • Thank you Cooper. I rather like yours as well.
  • Yeah, but mine doesn't move. I'd love an animated avatar. I don't ask for much, my life is simple. But an animated avatar would really be something. :-(
  • I got it at photobucket, where you are advised to in that advice thingy at the top -I just kept looking till I found something I liked... it was quite a lot of pages in...
  • Came across this typo the other day

    "Without warning he lifted a hand and gently trailed ran his finger over the curve of his jaw," - obviously couldn't make up his mind what he was doing! :)
  • And was it his own jaw or another man's?
  • What I wanted to know was, was it trailed or ran?
    Hadn't thought of it that way Liz, but as it was a romance novel, and the girl was in the scene, it had to be his own jaw.
  • Maybe he thought he'd got the remains of his breakfast all over his face!
  • And was his finger attached to his hand? although I suppose that would be a little dark if it's a romance novel...
  • edited May 2008
    Sorry Carol - we're turning the hero of your romance novel into a messy monster from a horror film when he's probably a perfectly decent chap who eats carefully and has all his fingers attached!
  • Someone on You Write On told me I shouldn't say that my character looked embarrassed, I should say 'he dropped his head'. Well, I suppose you would look embarrassed if you dropped your head. ;) Sorry, that's not a typo, but...
  • Hehehe! :D
  • Nena, that reminds me of a line in the third Pirates of the Caribbean film - all the different Captain Jacks and the one attached to the ship yells, 'Nobody move!' A pause. 'I've dropped me brain!'
  • I found this beautifully written piece (not) on Russell Grant's site this morning (trying to find out how much they charge, so I could see whether the site I work for is comparable)

    David is a very accurate tarot reader and has been practising his art for many many years. His gift is recognisable by those lucky ones who have taken in his words of wisdom and amazing predictions as he works in a no nonsense forward way and gets straight to the crunch of your concerns on love and work from your past and present and to your future. Ive personally had a go and he told me that some papers id been waiting for would come within a week and they arrived 2 days later although i didnt expect them for at least a month so I was pleasantly surprised. He really is a wiz and remains to be one of our top readers.
  • edited May 2008
    Writing Magazine, June 2008:

    Page 16 "They were coolly being observed by the rest of the growing crowed."

    Page 66: "Carpe deum." (Unless this is a reference to Gods Behaving Badly.)

    Page 48: "Ideas can come from setting your story in a small village or a cruise ship, but they don't necessarily come from the place where it is set." (Maybe it's just me, though.)
  • I agree with those, Jay, that last one is really badly written.
  • I think a lot of these are the result of poor final editing, though some are clearly poor writing.
  • edited May 2008
    Maybe the poor writing is designed to make us feel superior!
  • Could be. :)
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