February 18, 2021 HIGH TONE WOMAN

Did you know that the punctuation rules have changed with texting?? Apparently there is TONAL CONFUSION out there and the OLDER generation is to BLAME. I don't know........but in my world THE ELLIPSIS MEANT..........you were switching ideas. TODAY........ the younger generation BELIEVES an ellipsis can be seen as PASSIVE/AGGRESSIVE......like you left something UNSAID. In order to rectify this CONFUSION ---PLEASE USE THE DASH-----It's a safer punctuation mark  because it doesn't carry MULTIPLE MEANINGS.  Apparently--A DASH IS JUST A DASH???  WHO KNEW??? THE PERIOD is also causing all kind of trouble. Again--in my world-- the PERIOD means ONE SIMPLE THING--the end of a sentence. WELL--NO MORE--BE AWARE-THE PERIOD CAN NOW INDICATE AN UNINTENDED SERIOUS TONE. Now I FINALLY understand ALL the run on sentences. I just thought they were lazy.  And be EXTRA careful with  EXCLAMATION POINT TOO!!! Today they are WAY TOO AGGRESSIVE AND CAUSE TONAL CONFUSION.  Is the person HAPPY--YELLING--EXCITED?? Never EVER use an exclamation point in your text UNLESS the other person is using them too!!! GOT IT.......!!!! While I wrap my head around this--I'll tell you a little about Jane Harper's new book The Survivors. One of the things I love about Harper's books is that she uses landscape to set the mood in her stories. In this novel, Harper takes the reader to a small Tasmanian town called Evelyn Bay made famous by the wreck of the S. S. Mary Minerva. As this story unfolds, Kieran Elliot, his girlfriend Mia and baby are headed back to Evelyn Bay to help his parents move. Kieran hasn't been home since a storm twelve years earlier claimed the lives of his brother Finn and friend Toby. Kieran still blames himself for the events that led to their deaths and the guilt has taken its toll.  Within a day of their arrival, the body of a young woman is found dead on the beach. This death opens old wounds from the day of the storm, including the whereabouts of a girl who went missing during the storm. Could the two events be connected even though they are twelve years a part? What really happened on the day of the storm and is Kieran really responsible for his brother's death? Find the answer to these questions and many more when you read this suspense filled thriller.   This book about friendship, family, secrets, and small town life will keep you reading because someone in this sleeping town is a murderer. It's about 380 pages--a 4 mile run--that will keep you guessing til the end.