In a recent post, I suggested that you should take advantage of those articles that contain information and resources that you might be able to use in writing, publishing and promoting your book. Well, I followed my own suggestion this week and studied a few articles on subjects that attracted my attention. (Of course, I do this probably more than the ordinary writer because of my work as a teacher, editor\/consultant and organization leader.) But I was shocked by some of the mistakes that I discovered in the writings that I studied. Here are a few problems I found in these articles written by writers and professionals in the publishing field:<\/p>\n
\u2022\tTwo spaces between sentences. Some writers obviously haven\u2019t learned the one-space rule. Yup, there are some out there who have not stopped to notice, nor have they taken the time to learn, that it is now one space after all punctuation. I\u2019ve noticed that, in some cases, writers and authors have no desire to change their out-dated ways, even when their error is pointed out to them.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tThe article was not proofed. A couple of the articles I read had not been proofed before being submitted. How do I know? From the number of errors throughout. Most of the mistakes had to do with the nature of the word processor and the fact that we can replace words so easily. These writers neglected to remove the words they replaced. We\u2019ve all done it\u2014but it\u2019s important to catch the mistakes before submitting your piece for publication. If you continually miss seeing the mistakes in your work, hire someone with a keen set of eyes to check it over for you.<\/p>\n
\u2022\t Incomplete sentences. This seems to be commonplace today. We speak in incomplete sentences. We write dialog using incomplete sentences. But when you are teaching or providing information or resources, for example, complete sentences are a better avenue for presenting your material or message.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tNonconforming items in a \u201clist.\u201d One writer did a poor job of listing a group of items. Most of them did not match her introduction. As an example, if the introduction or lead-in states: \u201cWhen you fly to Honolulu, be sure to,\u201d the items in the list should be written to follow. A correct item might be, \u201cvisit the zoo,\u201d or \u201ctake a beach tour.\u201d An incorrect item would be, \u201cwhy not enjoy a sauna at the XXX Hotel?\u201d or \u201chow about attending a luau?\u201d There\u2019s nothing wrong with the ideas, it\u2019s the way the ideas are written. When added to the introduction, they do not create a logical sentence.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tThe tense and person was not consistent. One writer changed person and tense abruptly and often\u2014sometimes within the same sentence\u2014throughout his article. Boy was that distracting and unprofessional.<\/p>\n
\u2022\tUnnecessary and distracting sentence lead-ins. Here\u2019s a style that really bothers me. Is it personal with me or is it universal? One author whose work I read yesterday used phrases such as the following to start his sentences: \u201cWhat I recommend is,\u201d instead of simply, \u201cI recommend.\u201d This is another one of those bad habits that needs to be broken. <\/p>\n
\u2022\tSentences that are too cumbersome. Everywhere I go in search of articles and books for research purposes, I still find complex, complicated, over-the-top sentences that are too long, too confusing and lack clarity. My experiences this week were no different. (Note: my second sentence here is long, isn\u2019t it? But it stays on track and successfully makes my point, don\u2019t you think?)<\/p>\n
I recommend that you print out this list and check it against your current writing project. Practice breaking any of these bad habits you might have. Also study Chapter Nine of my book The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book <\/em><\/strong>to discover other chronic errors you may be guilty of so that you can begin changing your ways immediately. http:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/rightway.html<\/a> <\/p>\n Announcements<\/strong> Also, my formerly feral cat, and office manager, Max has joined Barbara Florio Graham\u2019s cat Terzo\u2019s MEWSical Society. I\u2019m not sure which section he\u2019ll be put in, but I\u2019m leaning toward tenor. As you will see in the photo, he is certainly straining to hit those high notes. I imagine his photo will be among the rest of the chorus within a few days. So check it out at http:\/\/www.SimonTeakettle\/Musical.Society.htm<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a recent post, I suggested that you should take advantage of those articles that contain information and resources that you might be able to use in writing, publishing and promoting your book. Well, I followed my own suggestion this week and studied a few articles on subjects that attracted my attention. (Of course, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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
\nI was most pleased to open my email this morning and find one from a client whom I haven\u2019t heard from in several weeks. She wrote to announce that her book, The News From the Master <\/em>has won third place in the Xulon Press Winter 2009 Christian Choice Book Awards in the Christian Living category. The author is Virji Angelo. You can learn more about her book\u2014a fascinating Christian Memoir\u2014at http:\/\/www.xulonpress.com\/book_detail.php?id=6420<\/a> <\/p>\n