What writing or publishing attribute are you asking Santa for this year? Would you like to be more skilled in character development, have a larger vocabulary or be more daring when it comes to promoting yourself or your book? Do you need a larger measure of writing talent or publishing know-how? Or maybe you should ask Santa for a helping of proficiency in the area of grammar and punctuation.<\/p>\n
I receive way too many emails and manuscripts riddled with careless errors. Sure, we all make mistakes. We neglect to use spellcheck, miss obvious grammatical problems and use the wrong punctuation. It happens to everyone. My gripe is with those who profess to be writers\/authors, but who can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t (or don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t bother to) spell simple words, insert commas and use an appropriate sentence structure.<\/p>\n
Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an example of some of the emails I receive: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153i hope yo u can help me. i want too shear my storey and write a book \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to wake up the hole world to something that will shock them. this is a uniqke story unlike that another. i can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tel l you abut it yet for copywrite reasons. i\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m shure you understand. but i can say that it will make you loose sleep from worrey and do something about it. plees contact me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
There are numerous problems here\u00e2\u20ac\u201dproblems that most of you reading this would not make. Or would you? Here are some common mistakes that you might not notice in the paragraph above (or your own writing): <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\tLeaving 2 spaces after the period. It is now 1 space after all punctuation. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t profess to be the world\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s greatest grammarian or writer, for that matter. But I try to come across as professional in my writing the first time and every time. And I suggest that you do, too.<\/p>\n For lessons in grammar and punctuation read Chapter 9 of The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book<\/em>. You may also get a lot out of my article, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153What Can a Good Editor Do for You?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/articles\/write_goodeditor.htm<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What writing or publishing attribute are you asking Santa for this year? Would you like to be more skilled in character development, have a larger vocabulary or be more daring when it comes to promoting yourself or your book? Do you need a larger measure of writing talent or publishing know-how? Or maybe you should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\tDangling the em dash between two words. The em dash is one long dash that connects two words. (See an example above.)
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\tNeglecting to correct the rest of a sentence after making a change.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\tUsing the wrong word\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhole<\/em> instead of whole<\/em> or; loose<\/em> instead of lose<\/em> or too <\/em>instead of to<\/em>, for example.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\tLack of clarity.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\tProblems with tense and person.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\tLess than adequate transitions from one thought to another.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\tMuddy writing.<\/p>\n