Hollywood comes to a small town

Some exciting happenings in the last week as a film production crew took over the small town where I work to film Stephen King's IT.

Rumor has it Stephen King was even in town, yet no known sightings or verification.  Though I have to admit that I have only read one of his books for the sheer fact I have a VERY overactive imagination and horror freaks me out, I respect the man for his work and as a infamous author in the industry, so being a writer myself made the rumor alone extremely cool.

And I found the behind the scenes so fascinating.  The funniest parts were the revamping of the local establishments into 1980s America.  A shoe store became a dry clean shop and another a deli, while a tattoo parlor became an ice cream parler (much to the surprise of some tourists LOL). The old cars were awesome roaming up and down the streets!  Not to mention the 20 foot lumberjack statue reminiscent of Paul Bunyan in the middle of a full decked out fourth of July setting in the park.

It really brought to light how much money it takes to make a film--and not just paying actors and directors.  The amount of crew lining the roads to ensure pedestrians didn't get in shots or politely asking us to wait before heading down the streets, the police officers directing traffic (and being really cool in letting me take a vacated parking spot close to the office), the extras (most local), the builders, designers and hired labor were all way too many to count.

But, I have to say, from my experiences and what I heard from other business owners and townsfolk, the crew were all so respectful and nice overall.  It made the small headaches of traffic, parking and just getting to the office or a block down to the bank less annoying and more interesting.

Now, will I watch the movie when it comes out?  I want to sooooo bad, but I don't know.  Like I said, I don't do horror so I have to find a way to watch it that it won't scare the living beejeesus out of me :)

Word Jumbles

Seems like a good time for another word jumble...not the puzzle, but the words that get you puzzled--similar words that authors often mix up in manuscripts.  Last time we talked about reign, rein, and rain (you can read the post HERE).  Today...

Further vs Farther

This duo can get jumbled up pretty easily in a manuscript, so here is a bit of an explanation to help you figure them out.

Think of the two words as physical versus speculative:

Farther is a physical that can be measured in real distance (think how FAR can you go): scooted inches, walked a mile down the trail etc. Or in terms of our word: scooted farther behind the wall, walked farther down the trail.

Further is speculative…more of an abstract time or advancement: thinking further on a subject before giving an opinion, discussing this further when we have more time.



Marianne slid farther back on the surfboard as she propelled it through the water.  The bright sun and cool water inspired her to let her mind drift further into the future, picturing herself winning next weekend's tournament.




Add these two words to your self-edit checklist and assess each use to its appropriate relation...is it a physical distance, or just a speculative descriptive?