Jen's Writing Journey

I am a mixed bag of grammar and usage rules. Some I flaunt openly, and others I follow as if my life depended on it. I get angry when I see a misplaced apostrophe in a takeout menu. I want to mark up ads and send them back to the agency/advertiser when I see the use of the word “impact” for anything other than a car crash or “quality” used with no modifier as an endorsement of a product.

The rules I follow:

• Don’t use unnecessary words. If a word can be deleted without changing the meaning of a sentence, it probably should be.
• Avoid adverbs. Stephen King convinced me of this one. Adverbs can clutter prose, especially when they are used in dialogue tags. The verbs should be strong enough to convey meaning without modification. There are exceptions, of course, and I will use an adverb where necessary.
• Stick with “that” to introduce a restrictive relative clause. Some grammarians argue against this one, but I see no reason not to make the distinction between that for restrictive clauses and which for non-restrictive.
• Delete that. Other than using “that” to introduce a restrictive clause, I strive to delete “that” from my writing. Oh, I use it. All the time, in fact. And I don’t catch all of the “thats” that clutter my text.

The rules I ignore:

• Split infinitives. If the sentence reads better with an adjective in between “to” and the the verb, then I will split my infinitive.
• Prepositions. I take a natural language approach to my syntax. If a sentence works with a preposition at the end, no problem for me.
• Following the word “help” with the infinitive, including “to.” Does a guide to grammar “help writers practice good usage” or “help writers to practice good usage”? What? Both phrases mean exactly the same thing, but one contains three more characters? Yeah. I leave out the “to” on a regular basis.
• Avoid negatives. We speak in negatives all the time, and there is no reason the word “not” should be avoided like the plague. Some of the constructions I’ve seen that avoid “not” are tortured and much longer than they need to be.

What about you? What are your favorite grammatical rules? Which should tossed out post haste?

• Writing Roundup, May 1 Can you believe it's already May? I can't either. Here are some good resources to help you start your writing month off right. The Business of Writing Perception Is Truth Writing Career Coach Tiffany Colter takes a fresh look on book marketing. She reminds us that readers don't make decisions......
• What to Do When You Are Overwhelmed On Monday, I talked about how to avoid taking on too much writing work, but what if you have already over-committed? Prioritize Lay out all of your projects and assign a numerical priority to each based on deadline and contractual obligations. Yes, this means you should work on the boring......
• Writing Roundup, Nov. 6: "Still Friday on the West Coast" Edition The Business of Writing Craft Fiction Freelancing The Business of Writing Firsts What are your goals for your writing career? Aprilynne Pike discusses her goals, other possible goals as a writer, and the ways we can achieve these goals. Choosing Your Genre Agent Jessica Faust covers the issue of......
• Writing Roundup, Nov. 13 The Business of Writing Craft Fiction Freelancing Platform The Business of Writing Comparing Your Book to Other Books in Your Query Agent Nathan Bransford weighs in on using comparisons to other books in your query. Personally, I think it can give a nice frame reference for tone or subject......
• Set Yourself Up for Success We all know that there is no magic formula for success. It comes down to hard work and good timing. You can't control timing, but you can control how hard--and smart--you work. 1. Research If you want to write for a particular magazine, subscribe to it and visit the local......

• Word Power Funny how powerful changing one word can impact your mindset. For example, when it comes to eating healthy and/or foregoing the junk, instead of saying,...
• How to Fuel Your Body For Exercise When you are trying to lose weight, it is very common to go on a strict diet and add in exercise on top of that....
• SEO Report Overview Below is an overview of what is contained in our affordable SEO Report. If you would like to see a sample of this report that...
• Which sentence marks the best thesis statement? Which sentence marks the best thesis statement in the following article.(read the article its funny.) We all know the most famous line in movies when...
• How To Learn Spanish Quickly - A Quick Glance To The Spanish Language Are you aiming to learn another language today? Do you want to try the romantic language, Spanish? We will help you achieve what you want...