One of 3.7 Million

If you're like me, you rapid-fire delete all those emails that circulate inboxes threatening seventeen years of bad luck for not following through. I'm not superstitious. I've been known to read my horoscope or a fortune cookie and hang onto it all day, only to find that all the inertia of "please come true, please come true" didn't come full circle. I walk a pretty fine line between being grounded and fascinated by all things paranormal.

For some reason, I'm fascinated by the birthday calculator. Not that I really needed to know I share today's special day with Tommy Chong or my predicted date of conception was August 31. Both would clearly fall into the TMI category, but I love the science of it. I can boil 4.11 ounces of water with my birthday candles this year. The moon's phase was waning gibbous the day I was born. My Native American plant is Mullein. Who isn't a better person for knowing that? Check it out.As promised, the answers to the previous post. Congrats to Marilyn for her dogged determination to correctly match up words most of us make when we sneeze.

1) Perfect. Fifty miles from civilization, and he was about to be rescued by Doris Day.
(f) eponym: a reference to a famous person who is recognized for an attribute. Instead of using a comparative word, the author substitutes the person's name for that attribute.
2) Three winged shadows eclipsed the sun, circling him in a halo as tight as chalk marks around a cadaver.
(d) simile: a comparison using "like" or "as"
3)The classic, rocket-shaped convertible crawled along the fractured road.
(c) personification: giving human qualities to objects
4) He didn't want to stop. Couldn't stop.
(i) epistrophe: repeating the last word or final phrase for emphasis.
5) Her old fashioned mannerisms, her reserved innocence, her optimism blended into the picture of a woman who'd set off in search of love and become lost along the way.
(g) anaphora: repeating a word or phrase at the beginning of three or four successive clauses or sentences or almost successive clauses or sentences
6) Two roads converged on a lost highway.
(h) backloading a sentence: restructuring the order of a sentence so the most impactful word(s) come at the end
7) What if he were a psychopath with a preoccupation for gutting women?
(a) rhetorical question: raising a question that is not answered
8) Doo-wap music blared from the car's speakers.
(e) onomatopoeia: using words that imitate the sound the word describes
9) He fished an old bus ticket from his front pocket-every number, every detail-as faded and smooth as a wish stone.
(b) amplification: repeating a word or phrase and adding more detail to emphasize a point. Restating or amplifying a concept

Even if you're not a writer, you'll soon notice these when you read and recognize these devices for what they are-an author's attempt to manipulate emotion and thought.

I'd love to hear your tidbits. Leave behind one fact about your birth date here...