Common Grammar Mistakes

Part 3 of 5

Instant Messenger and Texting Language in Writing

As you continue to write your Great American novel and you are so excited about this work, that often you slip into the common IM and texting language while you are writing. I have seen so many people who write novels and stories do this.

I have done it myself. Each week I email the parents of the my girl scout troop. I have started the emails like this: “Hi. Hope ur doing well this wk. R next meetng is on Mon. @ 7”. Holy crackers! That is horrible. I am so used to typing in an IM in an infomal way, that it slips into my every day use. This happens to a lot of people. My college professors used to cringe when certain students would hand in their work because they knew that it was full of what I can IM shorthand. I have been resistant to using it in the pass because I think that it reflects laziness in the writer.

When this IM language starts to make it into your every day writing you are need to assess what you are truly trying to say and find a way to get yourself out of that mode while you are doing some writing that you hope to have published. If there is a valid point with having LOL, BRB, L8R in your writing the IM language will be fine. For instance you are writing a novel about teenagers and you are trying to show the IM conversation between them. If you are writing a novel like Pride and Prejudice then the IM language needs to take a vacation.

To help get yourself into mode of not using IM shorthand, you need to first remind yourself that if you would not use it in a business setting, then it probably should not be used in your novel unless it meets certain criteria in terms of fitting into the story. Also be sure that you are not using shortened sentences. For instance when I am IM-ing with my cousin, I tend to leave off the “I” at the beginning of any sentence when I am talking about myself.

Example:

Cousin: So what did you do today?

Me: Baked a cake and folded clothes. You?

That is an incomplete sentence, but since I am so used to writing in this style, I have found that it tends to slip into my writing without warning. I have to make an effort to stop myself from doing the same thing when I writing a business letter or professional email. I have seen several emails where I tend to roll my eyes because I see a lot of people slip into this.

Remember that the use of this language tends to reflect laziness as a writer and when you are truly passionate about writing, you need to stay away from IM-ease as much as possible. It will make your writing smoother and your editor happier.

In today’s socially networked world, writers have far more opportunities to connect with their target audience.  Before we talk about opportunities for connecting with their audience, let’s first focus on why writers should be social.

We will talk about specific opportunities to connect in next Monday’s blog entry.  Today’s entry is focused on why a writer would want to actively market themselves through social networking.

1.  Let your fans know when you’ve released something new

For those who enjoy the things you write, let them know when there’s something new to read.  Leveraging social networks is a great way to increase membership and make it easy for your fans to let others know about your work.

2.  Help your fans get to know you

Ever since writers began writing, people have wanted to know more about the people who have made them care about carefully crafted characters, scenic settings, and perfectly executed plots.  Help your fans get to know you as a person, and as they care more about you, they’ll be more likely to be the first in line for your next book or article.

3.  Offer help to your fans

I’m not saying you need to offer to mentor your fans through writing their books (this takes a lot of time and dedication), but you can pass along interesting articles that you find helpful.  Besides the good feeling that helping others brings, you also build a stronger fan base by showing that you’re not solely trying to promote your own work.

4.  For new authors, this is a good way to start your fan base

If you’re a new author, you may not have a large following yet.  However, by using a social network to show off small samples of your writing and things you find interesting, you may be able to help your first book be more successful.

5.  Using a service like Twitter helps you become a better writer

Twitter limits each message to 140 characters.  This forces you to become more concise when writing your messages.  You quickly learn to take out extraneous words to make your message simpler.

6.  Agents and publishers like socially connected authors

There are two ways to look at this.   First, you get to hear about interesting ideas and articles that publishers are talking about, and even potentially get to use this information in a future query letter.  Mentioning something from an agent’s Twitter feed or blog is simple, free, and is likely to catch their attention.  As an author, take any advantage you can to avoid the slush pile.

Second, you get to show publishers and agents that you already have a base of followers who are likely to be interested in purchasing something you’ve written.  No one would expect that everyone who follows a particular author will purchase something they’ve written, but a percentage of your followers will.

Convinced that you should also focus on social networking?

Next week’s blog entry will focus on opportunities for writers to become better at social networking, and also highlight some of the authors who have been best at marketing themselves socially.  Check back soon!

I watched as we drifted closer, We were on a boat drifting with no way to steer , drifting directly into a storm. This storm was no ordinary storm. This was a powerful thunderstorm, the most threatening storm I have ever seen. In fact the reason we lost our ores was running from what seemed to belightning chasing us. Desperately hoping to see another boat. A rescue. A retched feeling in our guts, the feeling of hopelessness , being lost and knowing you are going to die and theirs nothing you can do about it.

What seemed like days passed, (you couldn’t tell what time it was because the storm clouds hadn’t let up) as we drifted into a wavy pool of despair. We were almost in the storm, fighting if large waves using our hands to steer. We kept at it for hours until our hands turned purple from the icy water. There were 2 of us on the boat, Walter (me) and Micheal (his friends just call him mick). We finally entered the worst part of the storm when we realized that there was an island inside the storm that we hadn’t seen due to the abundant fog.

We drifted onto the shore, it seemed to be deserted. We anchored on the shore and ran into the land, suddenly the sky seemed to clear and we saw a village in the distance. We ran to where we could see the village and it appeared to not be a village, but a city. Crawling now we collapsed from exaustion. “only 300 feet” said mick. A few men came up to us and asked what had happened,we told them they carried us into the town. As we awoke from our daze, surprised to find that the town was real, we realized that something was different about us. We then realized that we had seemed to have aged 30 years. It didnt make sense, I yelled as a man walked into the room “is this some kind of trick!? Surprised the man said “What are you talking about!?”

Grammatical Mistakes in Writing

Part 2 of 5: More Homonyms

Last week we explored some homonyms and talked about how easy it is confuse them. We are going to explore some more homonyms today. Remember homonyms are word that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings.

Wear vs. Where and We’re vs. Were

Wear commonly refers to clothing or something that is on the body.

Wear is also used to indicate show deterioration or change.

Example A: I think that you should wear the shield to protect yourself from the dragon.

Example B: The presence of a dragon will wear on the nerves of the villagers.

Where is used to question a place or show location of an object

Example C: Where is the dragon that you were talking about last week?

We’re is the contraction for we are.

Example D: We’re looking for the dragon but he has disappeared.

Were is the past tense of the 2 person past subject for be.

Example E: We were at the cave and did not see the dragon.

Whether and Weather:

Whether is used as a conjunction and can also be used to indicate a choice.

Example F: Whether the dragon has left or whether dragon has stayed, we don’t know if he is alive.

Example G: I doubt whether the knight actually slayed the dragon.

Affect and Effect:

Affect is often used to show how an action provoked an emotion.

Example H: The presence of a dragon affected most of the villagers, who now live their life is fear.

Effect often refers to something that is brought on by a cause.

Example I: The dragon was terrorizing the villagers and in effect a knight was sent to slay the dragon.

Then and Than

Then is commonly used an adverb to indicate a sequence of events or a point in time.

Example J: First we found the sword and then we saw the body of the dragon.

Than is often used as a conjunction to compare to subjects.

Example K: The knight was so much smaller than the dragon. He was being squished by the bulk of the dragon.

Sources:

http://www.dictionary.com

Kleinedler, Steve, et al. 100 Words Almost Everyone Confuses and Misuses.

Boston, MA. HoughtonMifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. 2004.

]]> http://blog.writanon.com/2010/03/03/common-grammatical-mistakes-part-2-of-5/feed/ 0 http://blog.writanon.com/2010/03/01/writanon-on-qwisk/ http://blog.writanon.com/2010/03/01/writanon-on-qwisk/#comments Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:06:37 +0000 TheBartender http://blog.writanon.com/?p=988 Last week, WritAnon was one of the first communities to join a relatively new social networking site called Qwisk.

We’re pretty excited about this site.

What is Qwisk?

Qwisk is a social networking site focused on sharing links with your friends.  There are elements of the site that may remind some users of Twitter, but I think it’s even more useful.

The idea behind Qwisk is to share interesting websites with other users.  You have a couple of options for sharing links:  either using their viewer on their page, or if you’re a Firefox user (like me), you can also install their extension.

I find that the extension is more useful since it’s always on.  I can also hide or show the community’s links as I browse, depending on my preference.

I’ve added the current feed from the WritAnon community in the blog sidebar, so you can get a taste of what information is available there.  I plan to share all kinds of interesting links to the community, so please feel free to join and start sharing what you have as well.

What’s in it for you?

Besides seeing lots of interesting stories, you will also have the opportunity to become a community leader.

How do you do so?

Simply share links.  As others share the same link, you’ll gain points.  The people with the most points are labeled the community leaders.

If you like something someone else shared, share it again so others can see it!

How is WritAnon associated with Qwisk?

Qwisk has a personal connection with WritAnon:  I know the people who founded and run the company.  The folks at Qwisk are dedicated to making this tool useful for everyone, and believe in the power of social browsing.

We’re also one of the first communities on Qwisk, so we have the opportunity to grow as Qwisk itself grows.  This is a cool opportunity for WritAnon to take advantage of a different audience and hopefully pull in a few new writers to join the community here as well.

Please check out WritAnon’s extended community on Qwisk at http://qwisk.com/groups/1924/.  Hope to see you there!

A little mouse intrudes carelessly into her home. She senses his presence and glides after him stealthily. He continues on, ignorant of danger as she closes in, low to the ground. She pounces, but the mouse was leading her on. He evades her attack, but is unable to escape. ‘She’s fast,’ he says to himself, ‘but she’s not fast enough.’ He begins an array of nimble maneuvers, to which she follows elegantly. The two dance flawlessly, painting lines of white across a blue canvas. Her heart is pounding with excitement, she hasn’t had a chase like this in a long time. Her smiling face beings to fade, though. She knows she can’t play anymore. The tempo of their dance increases, until the mouse loses time. “I’m sorry little mouse,” she says aloud. “Cougar One; Fox two.” The mouse panics and climbs as fast as he can. He disappears in a bloom of orange and red, signaling the finale as it fades to black.

“Don’t you want to play?” the dog barked sinisterly.

“No!” the cat yowled as he ran away, fast as his legs could carry him, “I don’t like your idea of “play”!”

“Why not? I think its quite fun!” the dog replied with a mean glint in its eye.

The cat was nearly as large as the dog, but its legs were short.The chase continued for several minutes, the dog slowly gaining all the while.

A large tree came in sight and the cat’s heart soared. “I’m safe!” he thought to himself, then he looked back over his shoulder.

“Noooo!!!!” he yowled for the dog was close, far closer than he had believed. There was no way to make it to the tree in time.

“Only one chance, I’ve got to turn and fight!” the cat thought in panic.

Coming to an abrupt stop, the cat looked back at the dog with determination in his eyes. “This is a good place to make a stand, right in my own front yard.” he thought.

Seeing the cat stopping and turning to glare at him, the dog realized for the first time just how large the cat was. Doubt came into his mind and fear began to grow in his heart.

The cat spat in his face, saying “This is MY yard, you don’t belong here!”

The dog’s eyes widened in shock for no cat had ever spoke to him that way! The fear grew even more and his tail began to droop.

The cat began to advance on the bully of a dog who had been tormenting him. As he did so the dog began to back away from him and his courage began to grow. “Maybe I can do this!” he thought, careful not to say it out loud and let the dog find out how unsure he was.

The dog’s courage finally failed him completely and he started to run for home. With a gleeful yowl the cat gave chase; “How do you like it now that you’re on the receiving end?” he taunted.

“Go away! Leave me alone!” The dog barked in terror, not slowing down at all.

The cat just laughed derisively.

“Demon cat! Its a Demon Cat!” the dog howled as loud as he could between pants of fear and exhaustion.

Finally the dog reached its house, without even slowing down it ran in the door, hoping the cat wouldn’t follow.

It was a futile hope, the cat chased him right on through the house and out the back door. He didn’t stop until the dog was ready to drop where it stood.

Catching up to the dog the cat swiftly slashed him across the nose with its claws. “Leave me alone or next time I’ll shred you to pieces!” the cat hissed.

With a whimper the dog promised to not go near the cat again. Satisfied, the cat went home.

After he got inside he curled up on his favorite spot on the back of the couch next to the window.

His friend, Sunny the cockatiel, landed on his head and asked what had happened out there.

With a quiet laugh the cat replied, “The dog wanted to play, I said I didn’t want to but he insisted. He said it would be fun, and you know something? He was right, it was fun!”

Before you send the baby into the world to fend for itself, you decide to send your pride and joy to an editor for some proof-reading and editing. You are excited to get your work back, expecting a glowing report. However, you noticed that the editor found several grammar mistakes. After all the long hours of reading and rereading your own work, how did this happen? Over the next five weeks we will explore the most common grammar mistakes starting with the most commonly confused homonyms.

Homonyms are words at sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things. So let’s look at the most commonly confused homonyms in writing:

There, Their and They’re
There can be used in many ways but can be commonly used as a indication to place or location.
Example A: There is a dragon outside.
Example B: (There as an indication to place): Please, just stand over there while I slay the dragon.

Their is used to indicate ownership or show possession.
Example C: Their castle burned to the ground because the knight could not stop the dragon.

They’re is actually a contraction for they are.
Example D: They’re looking for a new knight to slay the dragon. The last one was eaten.

Your and You’re
You’re is a contraction for you are.
Example E: You’re the new knight and will have to slay the dragon and save the kingdom.

Your is indicating possession.
Example F: Your shield, sword and armor is in the stable with your horse. Good luck.

Its, It’s and Its’
It’s is a contraction for it is or it has
Example G: It’s about time you stopped being coward and faced the dragon.
Example H: It’s been a long time since the dragon set the town on fire.

Its is a possessive pronoun meaning belonging to it.
Example I: The dragon is guarding its loot.

Its’ is not actually a word and should not be used in writing.
Example J: Does not exist. The dragon burned all references to this word.

So how does one go about avoiding these common mistakes? When you are double checking your work before sending it off to be polished by your editor, be sure that if you are using the correct homonym. This is as simple as switching words around to see if your sentence still makes sense. If it makes sense, then you should be just fine.

Now, go slay your dragon!

Sources:
http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000227.htm
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/your.html
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/their.html

Creating columns in Microsoft Word or OpenOffice Writer is fairly straightforward.  First, go to the Format menu and select “Columns…”

As you can likely guess from the above picture, you can choose the number of columns (this image was taken from OpenOffice Writer, but there is a similar menu for Microsoft Word).

Once you’ve selected the number of columns you desire, you can then adjust the width as needed.  Here’s an example of  two columns with a 0.5″ spacing:

There are many more complex things you can do to change how the columns are displayed.

For example, you may want different column styles in different sections of your document.  In that case, you’ll want to insert a page break (Ctrl + Enter) and set up each set of columns separately (in the same manner as what was described above).

Good luck as you work on your articles.  If you’d like further details, please respond in the comments and I’ll either update this article or add a follow-on with more advanced features.

My God, I thought. How good it feels to not think about anything.

After nearly two years of an intense work schedule, with barely a break, I’d finally decided it was time to take a vacation. And while I was on vacation, I had decided that the only thing I was going to focus on was nothing.

Yes, like the guy in Office Space. I wanted to do nothing. All day.

And it was everything I thought it could be.

What a relief to completely shed everything that had been stressing me. I had no responsibilities (beyond finding food and shelter, but that had been taken care of by the resort).

Who really cared whether or not that report got generated? The numbers didn’t mean all that much anyway–half of them were lies, and the rest were guesses. Yet they somehow supposedly showed the truth.

For the first time in years, I felt completely relaxed. The sand below had conformed to my body, forming the perfect bed.

I never wanted to leave.