Aline Soules

Poet and Fiction Writer

Pet Grammatical Peeves

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We all have them—pet grammatical peeves.  We see them or hear them and it’s exactly like fingernails on a blackboard, an itch you can’t scratch, being on the verge of a sneeze that won’t come but won’t go away.
Consider these:

  • “15 items or less” (although I should give my thanks to Trader Joe’s; their sign reads “15 items or fewer”)
  • “do you want to lay down?” (Lay down what?  Why don’t people understand that the present tense of “lay” is a wholly different verb from the past tense of “lie”?)
  • “utilize” (what’s wrong with “use”?  I refuse to sign any report or letter with “utilize” in it—the pretension is just about as annoying as the uselessness of “utilize”)
  • “between you and I” (between is a preposition and the pronouns after it should be in objective case, i.e., “between you and me”)
  • “myself” (nothing wrong with this word, except when people use it because they don’t know whether to use “I” or “me”—see above)

I could keep going, but you get the idea.  I bet you have plenty of examples, too.  I try to remind myself regularly that English is a living language and, therefore, subject to evolution, but somehow I can’t get past my pet grammatical peeves.  While it might sound like emptying the ocean with a teaspoon, I try to respect our language and counteract these problems by doing my best to speak and write grammatically—even when I text.  Join me—please.  

Sumer is Icumen in — along with Summer Conference Season

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Summer is such a great time for renewal, re-creation, and expanding horizons.  As a writer, I can tell it’s time for summer because emails and snail mails about summer conferences flow in, enticing me with their subjects and tantalizing me with the wonderful presenters/workshop leaders.  Of course, there are expenses—registration, lodging, flights, meals, incidentals—and there are times when I get greedy, take on too many, and find myself exhausted by the end of the summer.
But I love them.  I write this on the first day of the AWP conference, which I am not attending for a variety of reasons, and some of you may read this while you are in Tampa, but I’m talking about the lazy summer conference—the kind that inspires you to write with space and time to write during the event, the kind that sends you home with a sense of euphoria.
You don’t get that with every conference you attend, but, if you’re lucky, you do—and it’s the best gift ever.  You come home and, if you’re even luckier, that “high” stays with you for at least a week.
So here’s to summer conferences.  Check the web, lists in Writers Digest, Poets & Writers, Writer’s Chronicle, wherever you can get a good list.  Find the ones you think you want and check them out thoroughly before you spend your hard-earned money.  Then go.

San Francisco Writers Conference

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I just attended the SF Writers Conference for 2018 and it was fabulous.  There were multiple tracks for fiction writers, non-fiction writers, memoir writers, poets, self-publishers, marketers—something for everyone.  For poets, one highlight was the keynote speech by Dana Goia, current poet laureate of California.  He spoke eloquently about creation and read a few poems.  He really knew how to inspire us.  I’d not been to this conference before and my main goal was to get my feet grounded in this conference to understand how speed-dating worked, how pitching worked, and practice.  When my novel is ready next year, I’ll feel much more confident; meanwhile, I received a couple of “nibbles” to send pages or a query when I’m ready.  Most encouraging.  As a result, I spent less time on poetry tracks, although I did have a 15-20 minute conference with Diane Frank, both poet and novelist.  She was most encouraging and she, too, offered me support on my novel based on its premise.
Writers conferences are a great blessing—from the small to the large, from the unknown to the famous.  They provide a writers’ community; learning opportunities from experts; connections to editors, publishers, coaches, and others; a sense of the latest trends; and, if you’re lucky, an opportunity to meet someone with the same sensibility, someone who can work with you in future through a writing group (online or in person).
Writers conferences are listed in a number of places, e.g., Poets & Writers (sign up for the e-newsletter if you can’t afford a subscription), Writers Digest (again, same set-up), Association of Writers & Writing Programs (same set-up), and lists through a standard Google search.  Get on the e-mail lists and you’ll get brochures in the mail, as well.  Costs vary, but events local to you will probably be your cheapest option.  The key is to connect and stay connected.  It will enrich your writing life.
Image credit:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing

Writing and Grammar

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I confess to being a grammar nut (or is it “Nazi”?) and, what’s worse, I’m proud of it.  I don’t have any problem with writing that incorporates bad grammar in dialogue or even, in some circumstances, in the author’s own words, but only if the author chooses to write that way on purpose.

 

Language is one of the tools of our craft and we need to know the correct way or ways to use it, even if we have characters that ask “do you want to lay down?” or claim that something happens “between you and I” (my personal pet peeves).  We need to know what language we choose and why.  Without that underlying purpose, we’re simply writing badly.

 

My college-age students often tell me it doesn’t matter, but I don’t buy this idea.  I’m happy to explain–twenty times twenty, if necessary–various grammar concepts from subject-verb agreement to the difference between the verbs lay and lie.  The problem is that some incorrect grammar structures are now embedded so firmly in the colloquial language that people think they’re correct.  Present them with the truly correct structure and it sounds wrong to them.  One perspective is to see this as a step towards language evolution, but, until it’s an approved element of the language, it’s not correct and we should use incorrect language only on purpose and not through ignorance.

 

My favorite grammar books include children’s books by Lynne Truss (good for all ages–they’re fun!):

 

  • Eats, shoots & leaves (commas)
  • The Girl’s Like Spaghetti (apostrophes)
  • Twenty-odd Ducks (hyphens, parentheses, quotation marks, periods, and more)

 

These fabulous books help with grammar in ways that kids and adults can enjoy.  If you want a more adult approach to punctuation, try Truss’ adult book Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation or Janis Bell’s Clean, Well-lighted Sentences:  A Guide to Avoiding the Most Common Errors in Grammar and Punctuation, which explains basic concepts in clear, well-written prose.

 

Image from:  https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-grammar-concept-word-cloud-background-pastel-blurred-backgrou-image49594862

New Year and Writing Resolutions

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Here we are again, just over a week after the start of a new year, and deciding whether or not to make resolutions.  For me, that means writing resolutions.  I suspect that a primary writing resolution (if you make one) is to spend more time writing, which means giving writing higher priority.  Sometimes this is possible; sometimes not.  Work, family, other needs claim attention.
As someone who’s worked her whole life, I also know that while work claims time, the structure of work offers help.  If you know you have only half an hour to write, you write.  If you have all day, drifting is definitely possible.

This year, I plan to end my formal job in mid-August.  I want to write more, not sandwich writing between other demands.  Can I do that effectively?  Just as I love reading, but can’t read 24/7, I love writing, but can’t write 24/7.  I also need to get out in the world for stimulation and renewal of ideas.
But I also need structure and my resolution this year is to set that structure to make sure that my desire to write is matched by my actual practice.

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