Since I've been a writer, editor, copywriter and proofreader for 30 years, even before I moved to Florida, it is probably pretty obvious that I have a passion for words and in particular for their correct use. These are just a few samples. I have hundreds more on various topics that I wrote for everything from test manuals to how to braid hair to how to become an exchange student. Give me a topic, and I will write about it, tailored to your preferred tone and style.
Writing a novel? I'd love to help you with research and editing.
Cold Front
This morning my husband and I took a long walk around the lake. We were the only ones in the park, which is probably why we didn’t get into trouble for bringing Annie the dog to a county park where there are almost never any people, but where no dogs are allowed anyway. It was 50 degrees, which is numbingly cold according to my self-described Florida-cracker husband, and absolutely perfect according to our wildly-cavorting and very furry Annie, who spent the summer lying around like a depressed sloth.
The calendar claims it’s fall, and in most locales in the nation, that means making sure you can find your warm hat and mittens and boots. So I’m thinking, OK, what can I say about a winter that doesn’t seem like winter?
Well, there are several redeeming qualities about winter in north-central Florida.
Hurricane season has finally ended, and people are breathing audible sighs of relief about that. When we moved up from south Florida four years ago we said with utter certainty, “Well, we won’t have to worry about hurricanes up in Ocala.” Ha. Never try to fool Mother Nature. Hello, Irma.
Another good thing is that the swarms of mosquitoes and gnats are either gone completely, or moving too slowly to catch up with us. Whichever it is, our bites can finally heal and no more will replace them for a while.
Still another plus is that you can go outside and work or walk around and breathe the air all the way into the depths of your lungs because it is no longer like breathing steam. Last summer, my Florida-native sister-in-law advised me, "Don't slow down or you'll mildew." Now we can finally rest.
One of these days we’ll be able to build a fire in our fireplace and burn some of the now-seasoned firewood which the hurricane provided. I have to laugh at that. People say we’ve got enough wood stacked up to last us for five years. In northern Michigan, the half-cord pile we’ve got here would last maybe a month if we used it sparingly to keep the house at around 65 degrees. Cruising around in the fall, you could judge a family’s wealth by the size of their woodpile. Not that they had bought the wood or that they could sell it for much. They had been sweating all summer, cutting every weekend. Families with ten cords of red oak stacked outside their houses might as well have had a pile of gold. It would keep them from the only fear I ever really had when I lived there—freezing to death—which is no small fear.
Winter in north central Florida is only called that by natives. I’ve stopped feeling hopeful when the weatherman says there’s a cold front coming. I know what he’s going to say—it’s going down to 50. Even though I laugh, it makes me remember that although there are many things I miss about snow, I really don’t ever again want to be as cold for as long as I was in northern Michigan.
A Star’s Life
by Mary L. Dennis
Stars are contained in galaxies, which also contain clouds of gas and interstellar dust. Stars are born in the clouds, which are called nebulae. When a star begins to form, hydrogen gas contained in a nebula is pulled together by gravity. The mass of gas begins to spin faster and faster, and the gas gets very hot. When the temperature reaches 15,000,000 degrees on the Celsius scale, a process called nuclear fusion begins to occur in the core of the nebula. Nuclear fusion gives off heat, and the heat causes the gas to glow. At this point in its life, the star is called a protostar.
The protostar continues to enlarge as it accumulates matter available in the nebula. When the accumulation of new matter stops, the star is called a main sequence star. In this phase of the star’s life, gravity pushes against the ball of gas, keeping it together but also trying to make it collapse. The pressure of the hot gas inside the star, produced by nuclear activity, counteracts the force of gravity. As long as the balance holds—and it may be millions or billions of years—the star remains stable, a giant sphere of glowing gas.
In medium stars like our Sun, the nuclear activity in the core of the star continues. As it does, it converts hydrogen to helium. This conversion begins to cause instability in the star’s core, and the outer shell of the star eventually begins to expand. The star is bigger, but it is also cooler, so it glows red rather than white. At this point in its life, the star is called a red giant.
When most of the nuclear fuel inside the star is finally used up, the gravity that has been pushing against it all this time wins out. The star collapses. It is now much smaller, but very dense, and it shines with a white-hot light. At this point, the star is called a white dwarf. Once the energy inside a white dwarf is gone, the star dies. It is now called a black dwarf.
If a star is a very massive one—say ten times the size of our sun—its demise can result in a supernova—a powerful explosion that lights up the sky for weeks and can reach temperatures of 1,000,000,000 degrees Celsius. The core of such a massive star becomes a neutron star, spinning rapidly and emitting radio waves. If the star emits pulsing radio waves, it is called a pulsar. These stars are still very large, but there is no nuclear fusion to push back against gravity. Eventually the core is swallowed by its own gravity, creating what is known as a black hole. Black holes swallow matter that gets too close to them.
It’s important to remember that the life cycles of the stars described above take millions or billions of years to complete. In other words, there is no need to worry about our Sun –the closest star to earth—burning out any time soon.
--Published in the Ohio Graduation Test Manual, Amsco School Publications
Copyright © 2018 Mary L. Dennis Writing and Editing - All Rights Reserved.
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