Write a Book and Learn to Write

I’m thinking, I’m thinking

I’ve got two historical romance books under my belt, Indigo Sky and The Unforgettable Miss Baldwin, but that doesn’t mean I’m a grammar expert. Nope. I’m still learning and honing my craft. In 2015, after my first book, Indigo Sky, was published by Soul Mate Publishing, I decided to dive into the wonderful world of grammar so that I could improve my writing.

I never understood grammar in the third grade and I finally became annoyed enough that I embarked on a new learning adventure, with author and teacher Elizabeth O’Brien. She wrote the book, Sentence Diagramming Reference Manual: Hot to Diagram Anything. She basically teaches you how to break down the parts of a sentence. Her advice has taken my emails by storm (pardon the cliche). I spend time with Elizabeth every day and I tell you, I’m learning more now than I did back in the third grade!

Editing, editing, editing

How can anyone be a writer if all they know is what a noun and a verb is – oops, I mean – are? I didn’t know the difference between an adverb and an adjective when I began this journey, and if it’s not visual, forget it, I’m an artist after all. So, how did I manage to write Indigo Sky in 2015? I had lots of advice and help along with a little paper crumpling, file deleting, and even some foot-stomping. A lot has happened since then. I’m more comfortable with adjectives, verbs, nouns, and the combination thereof.

Here’s a shocker: If you think that adverbs only modify verbs – think again – they can also modify adjectives. We all know this stuff because we use it every day, but the point is that many of us, myself included, don’t know how to break it down and explain it. So given that I’m a life-long learner, I decided to add “grammarian” to my to-do list. That’s why I ordered Elizabeth O’Brien’s book with the hopes that grammar would become my friend and serve as my road map to becoming a better writer. A writer who can write . . . anything. Uh, oh, there are those elusive ellipses. Hmm, maybe I should have used an em dash? Sigh . . .

And don’t holler at me if I forgot a comma somewhere, Grammarly didn’t help me with this post, and that’s probably the reason.

Thanks for reading –  and remember: I before E except after C and in words that sound like neighbor and weigh.

Indigo Sky and The Unforgettable Miss Baldwin are both available on Amazon. Please remember to write a review – like everything else – folks only buy 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.

(Trailer) Indigo Sky Trailer by Gail Ingis