Conjugating Verbs

By Joe Moore

Each week, all the Kill Zone authors fly to a Denny’s in Wichita (chosen because of its central location) for a breakfast meeting to plan our upcoming blog posts. Some of us lean toward topics about life and how we equate it to our stories while others gravitate toward the mechanics of writing. There’s usually a smattering of rants, and of course we can count on Miller to have some great tales about his free-range chickens. It gives us an opportunity to chat while enjoying a tasty Grand Slam breakfast that’s always fresh and fruity.

gs At last week’s meeting, we realized that not only were we running out of 2009, we were also running out of new ideas to blog about. We agreed that we needed a break to recharge the portion of our brains devoted to posting at TKZ. We made the executive decision to repeat what we did last year and take two weeks off for Winter Break. So from Monday, December 21 until Sunday, January 3, the Kill Zone blog will be closed for the Holidays. That doesn’t mean we won’t be hard at work thinking up new and exciting topics for 2010. As a matter of fact, next year we will be announcing two really brilliant ideas in which all of you can participate. One involves the combined creative efforts of your seven Kill Zone bloggers and the other will involve all you writers out there. The end result of both should be very cool. So stay tuned to TKZ for two unique and (as far as I know) original ideas.

At this point, I bet you’re wondering why this post is called Conjugating Verbs? Well, just as the waitress was bringing my second helping of Silver Dollar pancakes, which I like with the strawberry flavored syrup, I declared to my fellow bloggers that I was so out of ideas, my next post would be about conjugating verbs. So here goes. This is my most cherished and only memory from four years of high school Latin: Amo, Amas, Amat.

14 thoughts on “Conjugating Verbs

  1. Can’t believe you gave away our trade secret of Denny’s, Joe! You know this means we’ll have to start colluding over all-you-can-eat silver dollar pancakes at IHOP in ’10.

    The only “D” I ever got in middle school was in Latin, btw. One good thing it did for me was set me up well for studying French and Spanish. I had the verb conjugation structure down pat by the time I started in on those. Otherwise it was painful.

  2. Kathryn, our secret would have come out anyway. But I hear IHOP can give Denny’s a run for their money. Actually, taking 4 years of Latin has helped me thousands of times to understand words I’m not familiar with by breaking down the Latin-based construction. I hated it then, but it has been a great asset later in life.

    Wilfred, you couldn’t miss us–the loud bunch in the booth by the kitchen. We like that location because it takes less time to get our food.

  3. That is so cool that you all get together. And wow! Once a week? Really?

    I am so thankful I found your guys’ blog. I absolutely LOVE it! I LOVE what ALL of you guys have to say.

    Hope you all have a great holiday. Will be looking forward to reading more!!

  4. Hi Martha,
    Actually, the getting together part of my post is a fib, except for the range-free chickens. But we do get together at writer conferences when we can. Thanks for visiting TKZ and Happy Holidays to you, too.

  5. Ah Denny’s…you know us bay area folks can only go out if the place offers fair-trade, lee-wind, well-nurtured, loved with abandon coffee and pancakes…It’s why I don’t get out much:)

  6. I can’t believe you, James- I thought we agreed that what happens in Wichita, stays in Wichita.

    I vote for the switch to the IHOP- the Grand Slam is not doing my waistline any favors.
    And my next post will be abut gerunds, for those who are curious.
    Skipping off to write it now…

  7. Speaking of dangling participles, You know if you guys are looking for a place to meet in secret we have some wonderful hidden away little coffee houses up here in Alaska that serve a killer plate of lumberjack pancakes and caribou sausage.
    (the pancakes are called that because they are big, not because they are made of lumberjacks)

    You can easily avoid author-stalkers too by travelling via what I call my Artemis Fowl tunnel. It’s not as macigal as Eoin Colfer’s “Leprecon tunnels”, but hey I dug it by hand one weekend after finding a serious shortcut to my favourite pub in Dublin. Make sure you take the left at Saskatoon, because the right heads straight into St. John’s bay due to a bad GPS reading, its really hard to get a good signal underground.

    One neat thing I learned while traversing the tunnel a few weeks ago is the the underside of the area that borders Maine and Quebec is inhabited five foot long naked mole rats that speak in a thick tongued dialect of French called Quefunkabecois. They smoke constantly and prefer aged gouda and ten year old tawny port to roots and grubs. Their chief, although he prefers when in formal settings to be referred to as ‘mostly ordinary team leader of the subterranean naked mole rat collective’, is called Roger and he is a pretty nice fellow for a naked mole rat, once you get past the awkwardness of the full frontal nudity that is, but they are fine with it so c’est la vie.

    At any rate, to take the tunnel up here, you can pick it up in downtown Thermopolis Wyoming, next to the the Old West Wax Museum, behind the dumpster. And remember left at Saskatoon. Don’t need none of you drowning.

    See you at the next meeting, I’ll have plenty of coffee and pancakes, and smoked gouda and ten year old tawny port for sipping by the fire pit.

  8. Whew about the fib part, I was actually appalled . . . I’ve been to Wichita . . . In fact I live about 3 hours from there.

    Sigh of relief . . .

    Now I can’t wait for the announcement.

    Terri

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