Werewolves on Bikes and Stupid Bad Writing and Life Advice

Details

RANDOM THOUGHTS In our random thought, we talk about werewolves on bikes and what would happen if SuperBowl players dressed up like zombies and vampires. Who would win? The photos we promised are here along with the rest of our podcast notes that don't fit here. The Advice Part! So, advice is cool, right? It’s other people sharing their wisdom, but sometimes advice? It just sucks. This goes for writing advice and life advice. CarrieI was driving from Manhattan to Long Island with my boyfriend and his parents. These were wealthy people with a really expensive car. The dad was a partner at one of the top firms in the city, and he was brilliant. He was not, however, the best driver. On this drive, my boyfriend and I were in the backseat and suddenly the car was bumping along. We looked up and his dad was legit driving his car on the median of the road, the bumped out divider thing. His mom was screaming and he was just totally oblivious. The traffic was flowing, but heavy and there are signs in the median. “Jimmy!” she screamed. The sign is getting closer and closer. And he said, “It is fine.” He swerved off into oncoming traffic. People screamed. He swore. He veered back up onto the median. The sign was still there, waiting. I was clutching the door handle. My boyfriend yelled, “Dad! You’re going to hit the—” His dad slammed on the breaks. We waited about five minutes for his mom to stop swearing and for someone to let us to get back on the road. And he said, I swear to God, “Let this be a lesson to you kids. Roads are not for everyone. You find your own damn way.” Bad advice, right? Sometimes it’s okay to stay on the road. When you deviate off, you want to deviate safely and not run over signs or almost get people killed. I also had a relative who told me college was for fools and that I read too much so I wouldn’t get anywhere in life. Also the thought does count, but it usually doesn’t count for the person you’ve kind of failed. And credit cards aren’t free money, Mom. THERE’S GOOD LIFE ADVICE OUT THERE TOO LIKE: Check your credit card and bank statements a lot. Don’t make big decisions when you’re super angry. Don’t not do things because you’re afraid of rejection. Don’t not speak your mind because you’re afraid of trolls. Floss your teeth so you can keep having teeth. AND THERE’S BAD WRITING ADVICE OUT THERE TOO LIKE: You always have to outline. If you see “always,” it’s probably going to be a bad piece of advice. You should never outline. If you see “never,” it’s probably going to be a bad piece of advice. Adverbs are always demons. You really don’t honestly want them to be totally almost every other silly word, but you can totally use them sparingly. Sorry! I couldn’t resist. Semicolons are always demons. They aren’t; sometimes they help when a conjunction just doesn’t work. Write the way you talk. This isn’t necessarily a good idea if you’re a person who talks like Carrie. Plus, it’s limiting. Do you want every character to sound exactly like you? Every book? SHOUT OUT! The music we’ve clipped and shortened in this podcast is awesome and is made available through the Creative Commons License.Here’s a link to that and the artist’s website.Who is this artist and what is this song? It’s “Summer Spliff” by Broke For Free. And we have a new podcast, LOVING THE STRANGE, starting on Saturday, which we’ll stream live on Carrie’s Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn on Fridays. Her Facebook and Twitter handles are all carriejonesbooks or carriejonesbook. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/carriejonesbooks/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/carriejonesbooks/support