 I used Grammarly to grammar check this post, because I have better things to do than worry about editing. I was supposed to write something funny, but editing is a big worry and how much better off we writers would be if we didn't have that bug-a-boo hanging around our neck. Purchasing Grammarly is something I am thinking of doing. Why? I'm persnickety. I used to be an editor and I have to say editing drove me nuts--drives me nuts. I am a lousy editor. Not that I don't find things wrong, it's that I get obsessed in the detail. Maybe the was should be an is or the is a was. Or the comma issue. I'm a serial commalist while most young people no longer put a comma before and. So, I stuck a few sentences into the Grammarly checker and bit my nails while I waited for the results. Excited, I felt like the kid in The Christmas Story, waiting for my Red Ryder Bee Bee Gun. Then, the results of my query appeared. Nice program. Habits like commas are hard to break, and I don't want to remove every comma before an and. For the self-published--and not for all of you--just some of the ones I've read--there is a difference between to and too. Learn it and don't publish your book until you do so. Also, ALOT IS NOT A WORD. It is a (space) lot. I get that sometimes you make an error and once is okay, but a dozen? I won't name the book or the author, but at least have some pride in your craft. This is a good spot to throw in: I won't dish on a poorly written novel. I am not one of those people that enjoy ripping a new author apart. So if you're not sure of your writing, it's best not to ask me to review it. That way you won't wonder why your review never showed up on Amazon. How about its and it's. It's is short for it is. Its is used like him or her and gives it gender neutrality. Adverbs are my downfall. If you are an emotive writer you will have plenty of ly words in your manuscript. Do a search for ly and see how many you come up with. *shudder* Trust me, it ain't good. Then there's advice and advise, amoral and immoral, your and you're. I've done a search and find on my ms and have found the wrong your in a sentence. A writer CANNOT edit their own book--at least the final pass. You wrote the novel and your brain will fill in the gaps with the correct word. It's just the way our body works--no fault to the writer. Here's a hat tip to Grammarly for contacting me. Kudos on a great program.  For my Weekend Read, this new novel caught my eye. I haven't read it, but it tickled my fancy. As you know, I'm an apocalyptic kind of person.
Dinner at Deviant's Palace by Tim Powers (Open Road Media) In a nuclear-ravaged California, a humble musician sets out on a dangerous quest to rescue his lost love from the clutches of a soul-devouring religious cult. In the twenty-second century, the City of Angels is a tragic shell of its former self, having long ago been ruined and reshaped by nuclear disaster. Before he was in a band in Ellay, Gregorio Rivas was a redeemer, rescuing lost souls trapped in the Jaybirds cult of the powerful maniac Norton Jaybush. Rivas had hoped those days were behind him, but a desperate entreaty from a powerful official is pulling him back into the game. The rewards will be plentiful if he can wrest Urania, the official’s daughter and Gregorio’s first love, from Jaybush’s sinister clutches. To do so, the redeemer reborn must face blood-sucking hemogoblins and other monstrosities on his way to discovering the ultimate secrets of this neo-Californian civilization. The novel has already received some great reviews and I'm off to purchase a copy. Happy Reading! (((hugs))) Louann Comments are closed.
|
Sign up today for freebies and fun. Grab your chance at signed copies of my paperbacks and free e-books.
|
RSS Feed