The Grammar Revolution and Writing
i’m thinking, I’m thinking
Now that my book is finally settled with KDP and Draft2Digital, and up for PreOrder on all the retailers, Amazon, B&N, Apple, Kobo, everywhere, even Toliino, I’m seeking grammar lessons to begin writing book 2 in the Gilded Age Heiresses about Mia and that forensic sad face doctor, Robert MacDougall.
I never understood grammar in the third grade and I’m finally annoyed enough that I’m embarking on a new learning adventure. Elizabeth O’brien, an ambitious English teacher that has taken my email by storm. (pardon the cliche), is present weekly. I haven’t tossed her out the window, like Allie, my heroine tossed out her billiard balls, and well, that’s because I really would like to finally understand how words work.
Editing, editing, editing
How can anyone be a writer if all they know is what a noun and a verb is, oops, are? I mean, I didn’t know the difference between an adverb and adjective, and if it’s not a visual, forget it, I’m an artist after all. So, how have I written Indigo Sky in 2015 and now in 2019, The Unforgettable Miss Baldwin, the gilded age heiresses?
After the book was all edited by the brilliant editor, Carmen Erickson of Book Editing Magic, I sent her a question about one of her corrections and asked why that was important. Here’s the correspondence: “I accepted the change, but I wish I understood the difference between Peter smirked and held up his hand, directing it toward Drumple. OR what I had: Peter smirked and held his hand up, directing . . .” Here’s Carmen’s answer:
I don’t think what you had is wrong, per se, but “up” is considered an adverb here and is best placed after the verb “held” to modify it. The rest of the clause that follows also then modifies” hand,” so now it directly follows the noun it modifies. It’s just a cleaner application. However, if you left it as it was, no one would probably notice.
Now get this, I thought all adverbs modify a noun, huh? Then what’s an adjective? It’s so confusing. That why I ordered Elizabeth O’Brien’s book this morning with the hopes that grammar will become my friend and serve as a great mapping system when I write . . . anything. Uh, oh, there’s those elusive ellipsis. Hmm, maybe I should have used an em dash? Sigh . . .
And don’t holler at me that I forgot a comma somewhere, Grammarly didn’t help me with this post.
Enough, I’ll keep you posted.
Please remember to pre-order The Unforgettable Miss Baldwin now, so you can have it sent right to your iPad (epub) or Kindle (mobi) on Tuesday, September 10 when it goes live. Also please remember to write a review, like everything else you and everyone else does buy only after they’ve read the reviews. Reviews are easy, they only need one or two lines, a title and of course you probably know that 5-star is the best.
