September 17, 2018
First of all, a word of explanation: this is the first post in a new monthly series called This Writer’s Voice. Please note that the series is not about the elusive concept known as “voice” in writing. It’s a series about writing, looking at the hows and whats and whys of writing, both my writing and the writing of other people. I hope you’ll find it interesting and I hope…
October 23, 2015
I am delighted to invite you all over to www.flubs2fixes.com (link below) for the launch of my new website! Flubs2Fixes is dedicated to the services I offer in editing, consulting and writers’ resources. I have expanded my services, and as well as copy editing and proofreading, I will now be offering developmental editing (for picture books, chapter books and middle grade novels) and manuscript/creative consulting. I’ll be blogging over there…
The Owl heard something on the radio the other day that got his feathers in a twist. To straighten them out again, I said I’d do a post about it. He thought it would be best if I used my own example, though. So, here’s my example. A notice appeared on the school bulletin board: “Whoever ran the gym teacher’s socks up the flagpole should turn himself or herself into…
April 19, 2015
The Owl and I had a question sent to us recently that we are happy to answer here in our grammar and word use feature, A Word with Beth. I’ve heard you should have a space before and after an ellipsis. I have seen in books sometimes there is a space before the ellipsis and sometimes there isn’t. Is there a hard and fast rule on this? … And…
March 22, 2015
The Grammar Owl is looking at his talons again. This time, they’re making him think about apostrophes (and the grammatical catastrophes they sometimes cause.) Apostrophes should be easy. They should be… Let’s look at the apostrophe’s main uses, shall we? They’re used to create contractions. Think of them as the blank tile in a Scrabble game (although you can’t use blanks in this way in Scrabble, unfortunately).…
February 15, 2015
Instead of a grammar post today, this will be a bit of a rant, but hopefully a gentle, thoughtful rant. There’s a phrase that bothers me every time I hear it. I know what is meant by it, but still it bothers me. Very often, people who work for a cause with great dedication are said to “work tirelessly” for that cause. I think we do them, and their deep…
January 18, 2015
At the request of a couple of readers, the Owl and I are taking a second look at commas today. Before the Owl sinks his talons into a few more comma rules and faux pas, we have a little bit of housekeeping to deal with. Apparently, for some readers, the avatars are obscuring part of the comments, making it impossible to read them. For now, I’ve turned off the avatars…
December 14, 2014
As you know, my focus this month is gifts that I can give you. Today, instead of the regular Grammar Q&A or Grammar Owl post, I want to share a link to a delightful episode of Kerri Miller’s The Daily Circuit on MPR (Minnesota Public Radio). Billed as “a scientist’s take on language,” Steven Pinker “uses his expertise in how our brains work to explain why we write the way…