Sit down and suck it up, people.
Don't do everything blogger/columnist/book author John Scalzi says.…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
One Simple Rule for Improving Your Writing - Comments Page 2
Sit down and suck it up, people.
Don't do everything blogger/columnist/book author John Scalzi says.…
Article comments
26 - lori
Ugh, I didn't even think to link to Scalzi's books at the end of my post. Thanks for the comment that brought it to my attention, Deano. I sent a message to EO asking him to add a couple.
And who knew (besides Phillip) that Mr. Scalzi authored the very first BC post? (Only to be nitpicked to death a few years later by another BC.)
Sir John, thanks for commenting. I appreciate your feedback, courtesy, and sense of humor.
[I also like your bald head. But that doesn't seem relevant to the discussion.]
After reading a couple of comments here, I admit that I did wonder if I'd flamed you personally, but I'm glad that you don't think so because that certainly wasn't my intent.
My mileage on the grammar/punctuation rules definitely differs from yours, but I certainly respect you for not wanting to be mean. I'm generally not that considerate. 8-)
Again, I'm not a grammar Nazi, just someone who thinks that we shouldn't be afraid to tell people to hit the books first and then worry about nuance later. Some people can learn grammar and punctuation incidentally by reading, but experience shows me that most people can't.
Thanks again for dropping in.
27 - John Scalzi
Lori:
"And who knew (besides Phillip) that Mr. Scalzi authored the very first BC post?"
Indeed, and here's another fun little fact: I actually named the joint! In fact, I reserved "Blogcritics.com" for Eric Olsen so no one else would take it from him (but then he went and reserved Blogcritics.org, the silly man. Nevertheless Blogcritics.com still points here). Ah, the early days of teh Intarweebs.
"Again, I'm not a grammar Nazi, just someone who thinks that we shouldn't be afraid to tell people to hit the books first and then worry about nuance later."
Oh, and I agree to that. I was merely working with the constraints imposed by the fellow writing in the request. In a perfect world, people would have grammar/punctuation drilled into their heads whether they liked it or not. I had that as a freshman in highschool, and while I hated it at the time, I'm glad for it now.
28 - Phillip Winn
Indeed, John Scalzi is a friend of BC from the pre-inception days (back when the rallying cry was "Free CDs for bloggers")! IIRC, the switch from .com to .org came as part of an emergency host switch, when we couldn't get .com redirected in time, but that's no matter now. They both work, indeed!
I don't mean to get us off-track. Lori's got some excellent writing advice up above, so I'll be quiet. :-)
29 - Chelsea Snyder
Phew, I'm glad this lady also is my "real world" editor! Good to know I'm under good guidance. :)
30 - lori
But someone named Mary is your copy editor because that job is for grammar Nazis.
;-)
31 - oxxygen
strunk and white: elements of style.
http://www.bartleby.com/141/
32 - lee pennington
These tips are dynamite... yes... wow; come for a writing holiday in France or Spain with www.7daywonder.com
33 - Jeff
Sleeping on a blog post is one of the most important things I do. I can always make a story better; sometimes it's only a word or two (hey, I like using semicolons).
34 - Faraz
This is great advice. This article and the one it references is something I will definitely bring to the attention of my students. When reading the original piece, I was also thinking that those punctuation rules were ridiculous, and appreciate that you have taken the time to correct them.
I have occasionally written on this same topic on my blog, but I put most of the blame on poor grammar skills on technology. One hardly needs to learn these things, because a word processor's grammar check will usually catch the errors first. Furthermore, Google has rendered research into a trivial exercise so there is little thinking required when writing any piece of writing now. It's sad really, but I suppose that's the direction we're heading in this brave new world.
35 - Edie
This is all good advice. In my opinion, it matters why one is writing as to which tips should be utilized (particularly sleeping on it, consulting others). It depends also on why one is keeping the blog and who is reading it. I began a blog to practice my writing skills, and surprised myself at how much better and faster I got in six months, not only at writing, but at reading, synthesizing information, and thinking in general. Communication is the most important tool we human beings have, so practice--even clumsy practice--never hurts.
36 - nugget
You people are nerds.
37 - lori
Seriously! This is a 2000-word post about periods, commas, and semicolons, and people actually seem to be reading it.
38 - Bob Deloyd
Thanks Lori! I write a small column for a local newspaper and I think I do an ok job at it. But sometimes I have problems on commas and semicolons; I am just too lazy to look up the correct way. Little reminders like this blog really helps. //bob
39 - Jeremy M.
Fantastic post. This is one of the more useful things I've read lately.
40 - Eric Olsen
brilliant job on this Lori, and we all would do well to take heed and go forth and sucketh no more.
HI John - Looks like you are buzzing along famously - you have a permanent place in the foundation mythos of Blogcritics and shall be remembered ever thus!
41 - Rodney Welch
You: "Before you publish, try to put your piece down and come back to it a day or two later. You'll end up thinking about the piece while you're away from it, and when you come back, you'll look at it with a fresh eye."
Me: "Before you publish, try to put your piece down and come back to it a day or two later. You'll end up forgetting you wrote it, and when you come across it six months later, you'll be grateful."
42 - stephen
Lori.
You sound like a real beyotch.
Relax.
Poorly placed commas and periods are not the end of the world.
43 - Rodney Welch
Are too.
44 - A Mc
I don't know how anyone could have missed the passive/active voice rule. Nice catch.
45 - Maureen
Thank you. I obviously played hooky the day they taught semicolons at school. I was glad to see: "If you're still not sure where semicolons should and shouldn't go, then don't use them. You could live your whole life without using a semicolon, and you'd never be wrong." I feel absolved of years of semicolon sins.
46 - Mark Bellinghaus
Lori! Please marry me--we could be the team of the future, cause my writing stinks and is so miserable and I know that I am making mistakes--Eric Olsen already taught me to use way less exclaimation points. But: If you are asking me to write a master piece in German--I will write them ALL against the wall.
And one of my close friends who is a successful writer tells me "Anybody can type." And: I just went to a lecture with Paul Haggis and that blew my mind. He was the biggest inspiration to anybody. He was fired many times as a writer from shitty shows in Hollywood--yet he believed in himself and now he did what nobody before him achieved. He won back to back Oscar for best screenplay (Million Dollar Baby & Crash). He was so down to earth and wonderful.
I know I make many typos, but it is the though that counts and it is also the thought that sells!
47 - Inspiring writer
I'am a high school student trying to write a novel and I hopefully plan to get it published. Do you have to have a college degree or any college education before you try to get one of your novels published?
48 - Elizabeth McCoy
I sold a short-short (200 word) story some... weeks, I think it was, after I graduated from high school at 17. So really, all you need to be able to do is... write well. Know what the words you're using mean, know how to spell them, make verbs and subjects and tenses agree, and know what you're supposed to do with punctuation.
I will say that college really honed my ability to sit down and write; after grinding through enough papers that I didn't want to write, it was great to be able to write something I liked. Alas, the novel that I wrote after graduating from college is still my Grand Unpublished, but every aspiring author needs one of those, right?
The most important part -- after writing well -- is to follow the rules when you submit your novel to a publisher or agent. It is very easy to look the publisher (or agent) up on the web and find their rules for submissions. Find Them. Pay Attention To Them. I have a part-time job which sometimes involves looking at someone's email to me in teeny-font Arial HTML, and writing back, "I'm sorry, but I cannot consider submissions that do not follow the online guidelines."
If you know what you're doing, you can break the rules of grammar and make it work. (If you don't know what you're doing, breaking the rules of grammar will look ignorant.) But if you want a publisher (or agent) to look favorably upon you, you had better follow all the rules -- and especially the ones which are designed to make your manuscript more readable.
49 - Krista Johnson
Great article!! I really enjoyed reading every bit!! Great content information, it also gives my readers another opinion on blogging. Thanks again!!