Category: Grammar & Editing

November 14, 2015

The All-Important Manuscript Format

If you’ve been looking at places to submit your work (book publishers, magazines, contests, etc.), you’ve probably noticed that just about all of them use the same term. Even in the modern day of sending files instead of printed pages, pretty much all publishers are looking for manuscript format. So what is manuscript format? Instead of trying to explain it myself, I’m...

Categories Business & Publishing/General Thoughts & Updates/Grammar & Editing/Writer Resources Comments: 0

November 6, 2015

The (mis)Use of Quotation Marks

As I was driving the other day, I saw a bumper sticker that made me do a double take. I was stuck behind the vehicle for quite a while, and as I was staring and shaking my head, all I could think was, “You’re not saying what you think you’re saying.”  BECAUSE “HE” LIVES Based on the area and whatnot, I’m assuming that...

Categories General Thoughts & Updates/Grammar & Editing Comments: 0

October 11, 2015

Possessive Adjectives Shouldn’t Exist – At Least Not in High School.

Ok, Grammar Nazis, calm down and let me explain. First, for those of you who don’t know, school systems in the U.S. now teach that certain words are called possessive adjectives: my, your, his, her, its, our, and their. When you learned about them growing up, they probably called them possessive pronouns. That makes sense to me. A pronoun takes the...

Categories General Thoughts & Updates/Grammar & Editing Comments: 0

September 30, 2015

Recommended Reading: Evan Pickering’s “The Single Greatest Strength of Any Writer”

I guess today is a day to talk about the task of writing – what it is and what you need to succeed. I came across this great article by Evan Pickering, “The Single Greatest Strength of Any Writer.” It’s a good read. Yes, I usually nitpick at any “the one thing you need to be a _____,” but this isn’t...

Categories Creative Process/Grammar & Editing Comments: 2

September 26, 2015

Pandemic Homophone Problems

All the homophone errors in this list are basically puns, but the people using them don’t know that. Most likely, people who make these errors have only heard the originals (not read them) and approximated what they heard with words they knew. Or they heard it from someone else who’d already done that. This idea is one reason why the idea...

Categories Grammar & Editing/Quotes, Words, & Phrases Comment: 1

September 19, 2015

The Wise Old Grammar OWL

No matter how well you learned grammar and punctuation, there will be times when you need to check whether something is correct or not. Whether it’s a case of not remembering for sure, being told your way is wrong, or simply not knowing, having somewhere to check is invaluable. The only problem is that if you don’t know for certain, how...

Categories Grammar & Editing/Writer Resources Comments: 0

September 12, 2015

Want to Date a Writer? Don’t Misuse Homophones!

The only problem with this card is that the period and quotation are in the wrong place relative to each other. I guess ecards are like dating: sometimes, you have to compromise. If you like the message enough, you might send it with one punctuation error. On the other hand, the people who would enjoy the message are usually the...

Categories Grammar & Editing/Humor & Wordplay Comments: 0

August 30, 2015

I’d Like to Have a Word with Word about Grammar

I wish Word would stop trying to correct my grammar. If I only wrote simple sentences with a minimum use of phrases (only prepositions and infinitives, perhaps), then, it might be right more often (maybe – I’m not sure). As it is, it’s incorrect at least 99% of the time because it doesn’t understand complex clauses, phrases, or punctuation. Of...

Categories Grammar & Editing Comments: 0

August 21, 2015

My Top 5 Tips for Not Acting Like a Diva with Edits

The best advice I can give for taking edits is don’t be a diva. Yes, diva can be men, and, yes, that behavior can be true of people in any career (not only music). It’s more likely to pop up in the arts since artists often put more of themselves in their work and have a more personal stake in...

Categories Grammar & Editing Comments: 0

August 18, 2015

Did You Know That Grammar Can Be Sexy?

Here are some more errors you want to avoid: Diply’s 16 Grammar Sins That Drive an English Major Crazy. My personal favorite as far as wit is number 16, a post from ItReallyHurtsWhenIP, who obviously likes puns and grammar.

Categories Grammar & Editing/Humor & Wordplay/Literary Devices & Writing Techniques Comment: 1