Ah, research. I know it doesn’t necessarily sound fun (unless you’re one of those people, like me, who goes, “Oh, I don’t really know anything about evil spirits. Time to go to the library! Glee!”) but a little realism can go a long way. Even if it’s something as simple as looking at a map [...]

As you may or may not know, March is traditionally National Novel Editing Month (NaNoEdMo). If you participate officially, you need 50 hours of editing throughout the month to win. I find it’s easier for me to participate unofficially (and it just so happens that this year it actually lines up that I am editing [...]

We’re not going to go a full grammar week this week, but I’ve had a couple of people ask me questions and I thought I would answer them periodically. We’ve all seen it (or had it done to us) a million times: “Me and Stacy are going to the movies.” “You mean ‘Stacy and I.’” [...]

I feel your pain. Even I have to think about these, most of the time, and I think grammar all the time. (“Hey, I just got an email from my grandmother, and she really should have used a comma there. And this forum post has the wrong ‘there.’”) Whose, who’s. It’s, its. Your/you’re. And, for [...]

The period is your friend, fellow writers. I know a comma is supposed to signify a pause, but let’s face it, a lot of times people just blow right through those babies, resulting in an on-going running commentary in one’s head that sounds a little like “Shewenttothestorewheretheyhadjustrestockedthesodaanddecidedthatshewould havetherootbeerasthatwasherfavorite.” Onwards. So, a comma splice is a run-on sentence, [...]