|
|
|
|
Solving your writing problems since 1998! |
|
| |||||||||||
|
~ The Write Way ~ Friday 18 May 2001 The Outback
Greetings, Last week's reference to the Royal Flying Doctor Service (on the web page about the Opera in the Vineyard ...) got me thinking about the Outback, and while we've never actually lived there ourselves, we have friends who've spent years working in remote areas. When our daughter was at school, she was friends with a girl whose father had been property manager on a cattle station at Cloncurry. By 2016, the census people estimate that Cloncurry will have a population of 5,600 - so you can imagine how many people were there about 10 years ago! Cloncurry is also the birthplace of the Flying Doctor (OK, go on ... marvel at how I weave all these seemingly disparate bits together ... I'll wait ...) There are some spectacular places out Back of Beyond - I found these holiday snaps of Lawn Hill Gorge while doing a search for photos of the Cloncurry area - and this is another set of holiday memories about the Matilda Highway which connects some of these outback towns and settlements. Our friends often tell us stories about the number of times they had to call on the Flying Doctor Service - it seems that working on a remote station is just about the most dangerous occupation on earth - if it's not a snake bite, it's a fall from a horse, an accident with an axe or boning knife, fencing wire recoiling at the speed of light, losing the odd digit or limb in machinery ... and that's not counting all the "normal" accidents and illnesses that occur.Listening to them really makes you realise what a difference these doctors and nurses have made to those who live so far out. The RFDS claims that "ninety minutes after being summoned, night or day, a doctor of the Royal Flying Doctor Service can attend a patient anywhere in the most remote parts of Australia. This quick response to a call for help from the sick or injured covers an area of more than six million square kilometres, four fifths of the Australian continent." No doubt about it, that John Flynn (who set up the RFDS) deserves his reputation as an imminent man. Er ... or should that be "eminent?" Or is it "immanent?" Time to clear this up once and for all: "eminent" means "prominent, famous." e.g. John Flynn deserves his reputation as an eminent man. "Imminent" means "threatening." e.g. The family was facing imminent disaster as the flood waters rose. "Immanent" is used by philosophers to mean "inherent" and by theologians to mean "present throughout the universe" when referring to God. e.g. He believed in a God immanent in human beings. So, no more excuses for misusing these. If you know anyone who would like to subscribe to The Write Way, please send them a personal invitation to join us each Friday, just cut and paste this link and email it to them: mailto:WritingTips-subscribe@yahoogroups.com I've had a request from one of our number who is searching for information for a novel he's writing. "My present novel is set around the bombing of the Marine Barracks in Lebanon on 23rd Oct 1983. I am desperately looking for anyone who might have been there or who knows a family member that they can put me in touch with." If you can help Rod Casteel, please email me and I'll put you in contact with him. A reminder that there are a number of articles posted on Write101 that may help you with your fiction (and non-fiction) writing, whether it's writing children's stories, writing a soapie or just getting started. I'm putting together some pages on poetry, so keep checking for these. Here are some of those questions we're all afraid to ask: If all the world is a stage, where's the audience sitting? If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done? Isn't it a little scary that a doctor's work is called practice? Shouldn't there be a shorter word for monosyllabic? What's another word for synonym? Why doesn't onomatopoeia sound like what it is? And my favourite: Why is it so hard to remember how to spell
MNEMONIC? This week's quiz: Match each word with its definition:
Last week's quiz: Match the word with its definition: 1. Balusterc. The upright support of a handrail. 2. Jounce 4. Munificent 5. Nefarious 6. Palpable 7. Pulchritude 8. Recumbent Here's a terrific little tale that I, for one, can readily identify with: A
woman was sitting at a bar enjoying an after-work cocktail Word of the Week: Kakorrhaphiophobia n. The
morbid fear of failure. Imagine a sufferer reporting to the clinic for
treatment, knowing that the first thing he will have to do, at the reception
desk, is give them the name of his complaint. Think about it. (Hall of Superior
Words) Tautology of the week: another alternative option A question to ponder: Do Roman paramedics refer to IV's as 4's? And this week's Latin phrase is suitable for everyone: Verbum non N.O.N. scribitur! (N-O spells NO!) VER-boom non N.O.N. skrib-I-ter! If you received this from a friend, click here to receive your own copy: mailto:WritingTips-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Regards, Jennifer To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to WritingTips-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com or go to the web site, at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/WritingTips, This menu will also let you change your subscription between digest and normal mode. |
|
Home
| Contact
| Order
| Site
Map |Subscribe
Copyright 200 |
