Kate Ristau's Blog, page 50

First Freckles

I have a brown ouchie, mommy.

That’s not an ouchie, honey. That’s a freckle.

I don’t want it.

They’re great! Look — Mommy has lots of them.

You look like a chocolate chip cookie. But we can’t eat you.

Why not?

Those are your chocolates.

Grammar for Writers Workshop

I believe in lollipops and she believes in the apocalypse.

What’s wrong with the previous sentence (besides my misplaced love of lollipops)? Don’t know? Then this workshop is for you.

We’ll work with your writing to help you understand some of your basic error patterns, and then we’ll show you how to fix them. Don’t worry; this is not your average grammar class! We will make it fun, informative, and well worth your time. We look forward to seeing you there!

Willamette Writers Grammar for Writers Workshop

Saturday, May 31, 2014, 1:30-4:30 p.m.

At the Salem Public Library (the Plaza Room)

You can register online at http://willamettewriters.com/salem/workshops/.

Participants will need to bring:

Pen and notebook

Mug for coffee or tea

Homework (see below)

We can’t wait to get you started! So…we’re not waiting. Here’s what we want you to do before you come (HOMEWORK):

Read pages 5-12 of Commas: An Irreverent Primer. Click here to download.


Make two copies of up to ten pages of your current work.


Now, time to get to work. On one of your copies, pick one page. On that page, we want you to underline all of the independent clauses. Don’t know what those are? Take a look back at the reading above. A good way to think about them is that they are those short little clauses that have a subject and a verb and can stand on their own. They can be their own cute little sentence. An example of an independent clause is: unicorns have horns. Check out what I mean on page 9.

For some people, this may be really easy. Awesome! We’re glad you’re awesome. We will make you even more awesome, like a unicorn playing a harmonica. Trust me. If you have no idea what we are talking about, and don’t really understand what unicorns have to do with anything, don’t worry about it. Just try to underline those complete ideas on one page of your current work. We’ll talk you through the rest when you get here!

 

 

Comma Book Released!

What is a grammar dragon? What happens to unicorns when you misuse FANBOYS?

This irreverent guide for using our most common punctuation mark will explain.

Commas: an Irreverent Primer is now available on Amazon in paperback ($7.19) and on your Kindle ($4.99).

You should get it. If not for yourself, then do it for the unicorns.