Beautiful Wisdom | Robin Cole

Diets stick like egg whites to brand new Teflon.

Lukeman Exercise Part Two | Robin Cole

I want to create impact with dashes. In the piece I chose to work with there were no dashes, just a zillion commas.

Ten hour days of working in the sun, bleeding from clay roof tiles as I lay beneath the sign, "Educacion Especial," lead-based primer dripping into my mouth and hair.

The original drones on forever, and a pointed moment is completely run over by the quotations later in the sentence.

Ten hour days of working in the sun - bleeding from clay roof tiles - I lay beneath the sign, "Educacion Especial," lead-based primer dripping into my mouth and hair.

With the double dashes supporting the aside, I feel that the sentence (at least the first half) flows the way I intended.

I also found another section that would be perfect for colon usage:

Paper plate balanced on thin legs, leaning against the cracked blue plaster she whispered, "¿Cuánto cuestan tus ojos verdes?" I could not answer.

Although the comma preceding the dialogue works just fine, especially with the young girl whispering, her words come at the end of a paragraph and demand more attention.

Paper plate balanced on thin legs, leaning against the cracked blue plaster she whispered: "¿Cuánto cuestan tus ojos verdes?" I could not answer.

With the colon, her words are really set off. The finality of the last sentence also complements colon usage.

Lukeman Exercise Part One | Robin Cole

A small cry. Waves, and again, a cry. Siryha sat up and they both looked towards the ocean. A scream.

I really like the punctuation I chose in these few sentences, but I believe that my intent didn't transcend the text. This section signals a major turn in the story, but I think that it came on almost too strong. The initial cry is supposed to be quiet, but definitely distinct.

A small cry, waves, and again a cry. Siryha sat up and they both looked towards the ocean. A scream.

When the first two sentences flow together with commas the sound of the cry flows into the sounds of the waves. The scream, however, stands apart and picks up the pace.

Robin Cole | Introduction

I have never, ever had a brain freeze in my life. That's not to say that I've been a very cautious ice cream consumer, or a slow slurpee sucker. I eat my dessert as fast as the next girl. I can hold ice cubes to the roof of my mouth and nothing will happen. Any ice cream eating contest you can throw at me will be pleasant.

Of course, this seems like a very sub-par super power, but think of all the time I'm saving. While the rest of your frozen brains delicately finish dessert, I finished horking down my chocolate chip cookie dough twenty minutes ago. I can start studying earlier, practicing my music sooner, and turning out the lights while everyone else is still working. Eventually, I have the potential to add months, maybe years to my life. Years completely unoccupied by brain freeze pain. Just think of all the damage you're doing.