From an anonymous book, chapter 1, paragraph 3:

I spread my arms wide and leaned into the oncoming mass, blowing a whistle that was more noisome than effective.

(The protag is a police officer assigned to riot control.)

Heh heh. Let’s try that again:

I spread my arms wide and leaned into the oncoming mass, blowing a whistle that was more malodorous than effective.

Per Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary:
noisome
1 : NOXIOUS, HARMFUL
2 a : offensive to the senses and especially to the sense of smell noisome garbage b : highly obnoxious or objectionable noisome habits
synonyms see MALODOROUS

Or your first, at least, isn’t.

I finished the first draft of a major chapter, one that tied up a situation that had been brewing since the middle of the first book (this is the middle book). Reboot. Start over.

Those of you who are first readers, I strongly suggest you do not, after reading draft work and providing little or no positive comment, say, “That was well-written!” when the above-referenced writer reads you a fight scene from a mediocre published book (especially when the fighters, who could have been quite reasonably presumed to be dead, are magically healed in the next chapter).

You may go “Wow!” if China Miéville wrote the scene. His dead remain dead. If they do come back, you will probably wish they hadn’t.

Edited so the first sentence makes sense. (It had read “Or your first, at least.”)

Another plagiarism incident. It seems pretty clear this one was no accident.

Sometimes text does get repeated unintentionally. One of my characters says, “You must trust me as I have trusted you.” I wrote this a couple of years ago. Wouldn’t you know it, I read The Tombs of Atuan, and that darn Le Guin woman wrote something almost exactly the same. I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt and believe she wrote it by accident. Great minds, so on.

I considered changing the text in my story, but that character would say that in just those words. Fukafukafuka. For later worry.

Ever made huge pots of beans or soup or whatever and wondered whether to let the pot sit out before sticking it into the refrigerator? Here’s a useful piece of advice from the Sacramento Bee’s food section:

Basically, you want to get the food below 40 degrees as soon as possible. There are a few ways to do that. You can spread the food out in a wide, shallow pan, to expose as much of it to air, cooling faster, or you can put a sealed double plastic bag filled with ice into the center, which also helps get rid of some of the fat (it sticks to the bag when you pull it out). Or, if you’ve got a free sink, fill it with ice water and float the pot in the middle. Then refrigerate it once it’s cool.

Basically, I want to laugh. Dirty up more dishes? Waste plastic bags? Fill the sink with ice water?

Who on earth do they really think is ever going to follow this advice? It’s a lot easier to just heat up leftovers enough to fry the bacteria before eating it, and the CDC says that 160 degees F works.

The way that food is handled after it is contaminated can also make a difference in whether or not an outbreak occurs. Many bacterial microbes need to multiply to a larger number before enough are present in food to cause disease. Given warm moist conditions and an ample supply of nutrients, one bacterium that reproduces by dividing itself every half hour can produce 17 million progeny in 12 hours. As a result, lightly contaminated food left out overnight can be highly infectious by the next day. If the food were refrigerated promptly, the bacteria would not multiply at all. In general, refrigeration or freezing prevents virtually all bacteria from growing but generally preserves them in a state of suspended animation. This general rule has a few surprising exceptions. Two foodborne bacteria, Listeria monocytogenes and Yersinia enterocolitica can actually grow at refrigerator temperatures. High salt, high sugar or high acid levels keep bacteria from growing, which is why salted meats, jam, and pickled vegetables are traditional preserved foods.
     Microbes are killed by heat. If food is heated to an internal temperature above 160°F, or 78°C, for even a few seconds this sufficient to kill parasites, viruses or bacteria, except for the Clostridium bacteria, which produce a heat-resistant form called a spore. Clostridium spores are killed only at temperatures above boiling. This is why canned foods must be cooked to a high temperature under pressure as part of the canning process.
     The toxins produced by bacteria vary in their sensitivity to heat. The staphylococcal toxin which causes vomiting is not inactivated even if it is boiled. Fortunately, the potent toxin that causes botulism is completely inactivated by boiling.

Posted in Writing because someone’s bound to get a story idea about food poisoning.

Getting a crit from someone who dislikes your story from the get-go is a horrible experience. (I’ve given some bad crits, too, but this post is all about me, me, me.)

After receiving a negative crit, it can be a pleasure to drive along a road with lots of roadkill and mentally swap one critter for another. Another solace is to imagine how those pesky vermin would crit Gene Wolfe. I don’t have to write in Wolfe’s tier to find the exercise curiously refreshing.

Crit: On Blue’s Waters by Gene Wolfe

Hi, Gene –

I just enjoyed reading the first chapter of your story. There were a few places where I got confused, most of them noted later in detailed comments. (more . . .)