Grammar Geek

"A man will turn over half a library to make one book." ~ Samuel Johnson

My grammar geek meter skyrocketed this week. I had a rousing discussion with a colleague about whether website should be one word or two, and if it should be written as Web site. This conversation was followed by a dialogue about whether health care should be one word or two, and/or hyphenated. Yes, these were serious conversations—so serious that I decided to get a 30-day free online subscription of the Chicago Manual of Style, since I felt my 15^th edition might be outdated. Mrs. Holton, my 8^th grade English teacher, would not believe this behavior was coming from me, as I did not think grammar was worthy of my pre-teen attention.

Encouragement

"When you first start writing, you never fail. You think it's wonderful.  You think it's easy to write and you enjoy it very much, but you're thinking of yourself, not the reader.  He doesn't enjoy it very much.  Later, when you have learned to write for the reader, it's no longer easy to write." - Ernest Hemmingway

Last week, my writing club, Sierra Writers, awarded prizes to the winners of the Young Writers Contest. It was fabulous to see the talent and enthusiasm pouring out of these teens. It brought back a memory from when I was a freshman in high school, and I took first prize in the school-wide creative writing contest. The $5 represented so much to me—as a freshman competing against upperclassmen, a writer, and as a teen with no self-esteem. Now my only question is, how much money did the 2^nd place winner get?

Proof That I am a Writer

“Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow." - Mark Twain

 

Other writers have written this sort of thing, but here is my version…

The main diagnostic criteria that proves I am a writer is that every time I sit down to write, I have an uncontrollable urge to organize something—anything—a closet, drawer, my purse, my files, my desk, you name it. The remedy is simply to ignore the urge and write anyway. The urge never goes away. I can give into it after 5:00 PM. It’s the law.

Blog Envy

“Writing is utter solitude, the descent into the cold abyss of oneself.” ~ Franz Kafka

I have blog-envy. My daughter-in-law has an amazing blog, with photos, graphics, and really interesting subjects. Next to hers, my blog seems like I missed the point; it's like an abstract of a Cliffs Notes.

Here is the dilemma. Writers write but time passes whether I am writing a blog or a book, so blog-writing time takes away book-writing time. On the other hand, the blog creates the illusion that I am connected to people. To some degree, writing a book feels more solitary, although I must confess, I am always thinking about my connection with the reader.