Proofreading & Editing Tips
Less Talk, More Grammar: How to Master Fewer vs. Less
What’s your zodiac sign? Mine is Gemini, represented by the twins. Geminis are known for being social and talkative. If you’re a Gemini, you probably even have conversations with yourself! I often do. I’m very much a Gemini, but I also love the phrase “less talk, more...
Happy Valentine’s Day! I’m Feeling Possessive and Alliterative
Are you a sappy sucker like me? Do you identify as a goofy giver of gushy gifts as you grin with giddy gratitude? Romantic and ready, do you revel in the rosy radiance of Valentine’s Day? And the most important question: Do you enjoy alliteration? I obviously do. My...
The Mighty “Is”: Capitalization in Titles
I’m small. Standing at just five feet tall and weighing the same as 2.5 bags of wood pellets (we keep cozy in our little PNW home with a pellet stove), I don’t take up much space. If you sit behind me in a car, you’ll enjoy plenty of legroom. In my kitchen, you’ll...
A Housing Crisis: Tenants or Tenets?
From a text I was editing earlier today: She was a certified translator of French and Italian documents, particularly those relating to the Western tenants of European intellectualism. Oooh…I just love this kind of typo, where the author has used a legitimate word but...
My Favorite Punctuation Mark—The Em Dash
In case you aren’t familiar with an em dash, I put it in the title as a visual aid. It’s name comes from it being the same width as the letter m; similarly, an en dash is the same width as the letter n. An easy way to find these symbols in Microsoft Word is to click...
Back to the Basics: Dialogue
Refreshers are necessary at times, and based on my recent editing projects, how to properly format dialogue has got lots of writers confused. Are you in a tizzy over this too? Read on and see if you’ve got the bases covered. Start a New Line First, whenever a speaker...
“I Could Care Less!”: An Oft-Mispronounced Phrase
“I could care less about what you do!” This is something a character said in a story I recently edited. Perhaps you’ve said it in real life to someone who has bothered you in some way. Maybe they hurt you, so as a way to clap back at them with an I don’t care anyway...
Word Pairs: What a Difference Letter Placement Makes
I texted my daughter today. She’s been dog sitting for a neighbor, and when she came home this morning before school, her eyes were half-open. When I dropped her off at school, she still hadn’t woken up entirely, so at noon, I texted her. Hi, honey! You doing okay?...
Wonderful Nomenclature: A Congress of Baboons
It’s no surprise that I love words, and I truly love the English language. Lately, I’ve especially enjoyed learning what different groups of animals are called, such as a prickle of hedgehogs. What fun it was to learn that a group of baboons is called a congress of...
Freedom From the S: Toward, Forward, In Regard To
Sometimes, we add an “s” when it isn’t needed. Are you one of these “s” adders? Are you prone to saying “towards” and “forwards”? If so, you aren’t necessarily wrong to do so, but you’ll end up sounding more British than American. Over in England, they still have...