Mac OS no longer runs 32-bit software, and I believe Word '08 was 32-bit software. But there are lots of ways to create Word files, including the already-mentioned Pages.

Whoops, yeah, I should have thought of that.

Your older version of Word should work. I have a 2011 version on my relatively new macBookPro. You may already know, but Mac's come with a wordprocessor caled Pages. And, if you don't want to purchase a new version of Word, there are some free open source office suites available that will run on your new Mac too.

Has anyone else noticed that the Writer's Cafe link on the main forum page has vanished?
I haven't seen it in a couple of days. Had to pull it up a recent post and come in that way.

I don’t know why this comes to mind, because it’s probably not the feedback you’re looking for, but I’d suggest swapping the words in the new title: Heroes Betrayed

If someone wants to buy 4 copies of a book, one for each grandkid, is that ok?

If someone wants to buy 20 copies of a book, one for each employee, is that ok?

If someone wants to buy 400 copies of a book, one for each client, is that ok?

If the list rank is meant to be indicative of a book’s quality, then each of those purchases would be legit, because the purchaser thought so highly of the book that she was willing to even buy them to give to others.

The issue here is not the quantity of books purchased, but the intent behind the purchase. Dawson didn’t buy 400 because he thought it was a great book. He bought 400 to give other people the impression that it was selling better than it was (i.e. a better book).

Your son may already be aware of this, but there are online markets for composers to sell their work, similar to photos. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, https://www.premiumbeat.com/ is run by the shutterstock.com folks.

Dastardly...

Wasn’t there already a movie about a big box store?

By all means use the variant on the 1920s/1930s "Confucius say" joke here if you have to have it, and if your character will use this sort of joke throughout the book.  But at least drop the part about it being an accent, which it most certainly isn't, and perhaps re-write to say something similar to: "I held up my finger. 'But Confucius say, kidnapping poor defenseless attorney easier than...'"  Eliminate "grasshopper" to keep from mixing a 1930s joke with a 1970s TV show.  The revised version also makes Nancy's comment about fortune cookies more believable.

^^ this ^^ And as Lessa has pointed out, what you wrote is not an accent. It also breaks the basic show don't tell rule. Don't tell your readers that he's using a Confucius accent (whatever that is), and just "show" him saying "Confucius say..." Readers who get  "Confucius accent" will also get "Confucius say...", and they'll hear it in whatever accent they want to.

If it worries you, just add a "bomb" scene. Maybe they trip over a dud or something.

Quote from: Ben McQueeney on July 05, 2019, 07:39:38 am

I'm writing a short in the second person.

You have no idea why.

I didn't want to laugh at that, but I did anyway.

 

Question: If you were starting today, what genre and sub-genre would you chose, and why? What are the pros and cons?

I'm bursting with all sorts of story ideas, in a variety of genres. My college-age daughters are home for the summer, so they're binge watching tons of stuff from the supernatural to dystopian. Sometimes I watch with them, so I get those sorts of ideas. And as I mentioned in my I'm back thread, my recent cancer battle followed by my wife's cancer battle and death sort of "color" a lot of things, but we also binge watched a lot of Hallmark in her last year, so I have a lot of Hallmark-y ideas.

I probably focus on the above, because I assume they're the most potentially viable, but that's not necessarily true, and I do have other ideas as well. Coming through a period of grief, I've definitely been in that mode where I "get" sad love songs and country music, but I don't want to let that overly impact my decision, if that makes sense.

Anyway, I'd appreciate everyone's insight. Thanks!

Does it just take Google longer to crawl new sites?

They each have their own algorithms and web crawling schedule.
They're owned by different companies.
They're just different.