I am the world's worst at grammar and spelling. This should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever seen any of my work in any form before an editor gets hold of it. It is something that should have been a New Year's resolution but, since I don't believe in them, I will start now. I have two old Grammar books I am pulling out and am going to read and even do the exercises. (I keep misspelling grammar as grammer. You can see my dilemma.) My goal is to be better. I know that most editors do not want to put in as much work as my writing takes to get it up to speed. I will be spending the next couple of weeks, when I am not working on a novel, editing the hell out of everything that has not been accepted and I deem still worthy of anyone reading.
It is going to be a daunting task and not easy I will admit but I hope to make it out of my own slush a better writer.
God help me.
More Little boats: Poleacre and America's
1 week ago
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12 comments:
Good luck. Grammar can be a daunting task. I'm terrible at spelling. In fact, I had to correct four words just in this comment.
Thank goodness for prereaders! I say find one willing to work for food or sex. Brownies can be used to this effect, though homemade work better than store bought.
Rob- my own typing skills can mess me up.
Nat-I agree and I need to use the one I have more often.
Good luck! If you need any tricky grammar questions answered, feel free to ask me. If I don't know the real answer, I'll make something plausible up. :)
You want to know one of the dirty tricks that grammar plays?
Rules change and can be bent in so many ways. Where does that comma go, anyway?
I'm struggling through part of Some of Your Blood right now because Sturgeon writes portions with very poor syntax (on purpose, of course).
I'll second K.C.'s offer. ;) I can make up some pretty good stuff.
I hear you, I hear you...
I've been working hard at it this year, and I think I've improved. I hope I've improved. I've even grown to love semi-colons. ;)
Nice plan. I actually plan on spending an entire week in November doing this with all of my short fiction. Have at it, and good luck!
K.C. and Aaron- I can make stuff up. That is my problem.
Cate- maybe we can start a club for writers with po' grammar. Of course no one would be able to read the directions to the meetings.
Barry- I will let you know how it goes and if it works. I might be a hopeless case.
Good luck with it. Grammar is a huge pain in the butt. One of the girls in my crit group is an English teacher so I can always count on her, because it frustrates the hell out of me.
Danielle hit it on the head - you need to find someone who is already great with grammar, see how they correct your work and then remember it.
I have no idea about the rules, but I did take note where the corrections have been placed in the past. (like the comma before the word 'but')
My wonderful reader also explains the reasons to me, but I have a head like a sieve for these types of things. (see another comma before but ;c))
I used to have improving in grammar as a yearly goal - now I take it as a given.
I wish everyone continued success in this area.
Thanks. it is going to be a long road.
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