Workshop for Authors

FREE ~ April 4th ~ 11 AM to 3 PM

Clark County Library 1401 East Flamingo Road Las Vegas, Nevada

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Publishing Basics – How It All Works

Las Vegas publisher Carolyn Hayes Uber will explain the basics of the publishing industry from the big New York publishing houses to smaller independent presses to the scary world of self-publishing. Find out how to evaluate your options, whether you need an agent, and what to expect during the publishing process. More info at CarolynHayesUber.com

Polish Up That Manuscript!

Veteran author Maralys Wills incorporates both solid tips and a fresh sense of humor in her advice to writers. Sparkling manuscripts are the result of self-editing and careful polishing. She will share tricks of the trade to elevate your manuscript from good to publishable. More at DamnTheRejections.com

Professional editor Jami Carpenter explains why every author needs an editor. How do you find the right editor; what are the different types of editing? Should your manuscript be edited before submission to agents and publishers? Learn how to ensure a happy and productive author/editor relationship and more. 

  Watching and listening to Barack Obama as he prepares to take office, I am struck by his skillfully crafted speeches, and I wonder. Is there a literary term for the repetition of words he uses in his orations? The answer is yes, but as usual with the English language, it’s a bit complicated. Depending upon where or how the words are repeated determines the literary tag.

Repeating words or phrases at the beginning of a sentence is called an anaphora. Two of the most famous examples are:

“I have a dream that one day this nation … equal … I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia … table of brotherhood … I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi … freedom and justice … I have a dream that my four little children … I have a dream today …”(Martin Luther King, Jr.)

 “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times …” (Charles Dickens)

If the repeated words or phrases appear at the end of the sentence, the literary term is called an epiphora:

“This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth…” (Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address)

A ploce (plo-chay) repeats the words or phrase with a twist – or more defined description:

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

I am stuck on Band-Aid, and Band-Aid’s stuck on me.

“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.” (Bill Clinton)

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” (John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961)

“Well, I say to them tonight, there’s not a liberal America and a conservative America; there’s the United States of America. There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the United States of America.” (Barack Obama, 2004 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address)

But wait! There’s still another version. When words or phrases are repeated exactly, sometimes separated by punctuation or a few words, it is called a diacope (die-ack- oh-pee):

“There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.” (Judy Garland, The Wizard of Oz)

“I think I can; I think I can; I think I can.” (The Little Engine That Could)

In the sixties, didn’t we call that a mantra?

No, I’m not going to vent about belly buttons.

I’m talking about (and a reader asked about) properly placing punctuation (alliterations later!) at the end of a sentence when quotation marks are involved. Does the period go inside  or outside the quote marks? How about a question mark? A comma? An exclamation point?

The answer? All of the above. Let me explain.

ALL commas and periods are placed within the closing quotation mark. NO exceptions.

My philosophy is “Live and let live.”

If I believe “Live and let live,” do you?

Question marks and exclamation points can be in or out, depending upon the quote.

If the punctuation mark is not part of the actual quote, it is placed outside the closing quote mark.

Do you agree the best philosopy is “Live and let live”?

I say to you all, “Live and let live”!

But if the punctuation mark is integral to the quoted material, it is placed inside the closing quote mark:

Do you like the song, “Who Let the Dogs Out?”

I heard the guy yell, “Fire!”

All other punctuation (semi-colon, colon, dash, etc.) are out. Always.

I say, “To be or not to be”; that is the question.

I say, “To be or not to be”… what do you say?

6.   Anyway or anyways?

Any way you look at it, the word to use is anyway. NO S.

5.   Toward or towards?

Same as above. NO S (at least in the U.S.) Brits say towards, Americans use toward. I wish knew why.

4.   Principal or principle

My fifth-grade teacher told me:

Use principal when referring to a person: remember the school principal is your pal. (A trick to help you remember something is known as a mnemonic device… pronounced nee-mon-ick.)

Also use  principal when referring to something that is primary or most important: The principal purpose of this blog is to vent about grammar.

Follow this principle and you can’t go wrong.

3.   Who versus that

Who is for people; that is for things.

I have a friend that ate my pizza.

AAAAGH!

I have a friend who ate my pizza.

My friend had a dog that ate my pizza.

2.   Who or whom; who’s or whose?

Basically, who relates to he (or she or they) and whom relates to him (or her/them). Think of the “m” in whom and him.

Who asked for pepperoni on the pizza? He asked for pepperoni. (Him asked for pepperoni? Ugh.)

Whom did you invite over for pizza? I invited him. (I invited he? No way!)

Who’s and whose may sound the same, but they are two very different words:

Who’s is really who is. Who’s eating my pizza? (Who is eating?)

Whose shows possession: Whose piece of pizza is this? (It is hers.)

To be sure, try this: Who’s pizza is this? (Who is pizza is this? Nah.)

(If you really want to challenge yourself, listen to the old Abbott and Costello routine: Who’s on First?)

1.   Is it alot or a lot?

Would you say, I would like alittle pepperoni on my pizza? No. So why say, I want alot of pepperoni on my pizza? A lot is NOT one word.

However… allot IS one word, but the meaning is quite different.

Should I allot a lot of time to this or not?

Though the following examples may not be the worst grammatical goofs, I see them frequently and they drive me crazy:

5.   Its or it’s?

If you don’t know which one to use, try this simple test: Say it is in place of it’s in your sentence and if it works, it’s (it is) it’s! If not, it is its.

Poor pooch; it’s tail got caught in the car door. (It is tail got caught?) Nope. Its tail got caught…

I think it’s time to give that poor dog a treat. (I think it is time…) Yes!

4.   Your or you’re?

You’re is the contraction of you are: You’re (you are) the love of my life.

Your shows possession: Your wish is my command. To be sure, try this test: You’re (you are) wish is my command? Nope.

Here’s my theory on why this one gets abused so often:

You and your friends know when you’re supposed to use the contraction, but you’re too lazy.

3.   Than I or than me?

The easiest way to figure this out is to finish the sentence in your head – and you will know which word is correct.

She runs faster than me. (She runs faster than me runs?) Nah!

She runs faster than I. (She runs faster than I run.) Yeah!

But sometimes both words work – depending upon what you want to say.

She likes cheesecake more than I. (She likes cheesecake more than I like cheesecake.)

She likes cheesecake more than me. (She likes cheesecake more than she likes me.)

2.   Insure or ensure?

Use insure only if you work for State Farm.

This policy will insure your safety.

Taking two aspirin before bed will ensure I don’t have a hangover tomorrow.

1.   Between you and I or between you and me?

I defer to the wonderful book, Woe is I, by Patricia O’Conner, for help with this one.

The magic lamp is between you and …?

If you are confused, take the “other” person out of the picture and try another preposition.

The magic lamp is behind I. No! The magic lamp is behind me.

Thus, The magic lamp is between you and me.

Ey-yi-yi!

Have you ever been faced with the dilemma of writing a sentence that was both a question and an exclamation, and you didn’t know what punctuation to use? And if you used both, you didn’t know whether the question mark or exclamation point should be first?

What the hell happened here?!

Well, according to my bible, the Chicago Manual, the question mark is before the exclamation point in an exclamatory question. Okay, that answers that question!

But then I started digging and discovered that there actually is a punctuation mark that combines the two. Isn’t that wonderful?!

It’s called an interrobang. It’s been around since 1962, and can be found in the Windings font, which explains why I’ve never seen it or heard of it before. Maybe you’ve seen it? Did you know it had a name?

Call me weird, but I can’t wait to see what other punctuation I can discover.

Remember the elementary school rule to capitalize proper names of “persons, places, and things”? It all seemed so simple, but once you go beyond “see Spot run,” the rule becomes less clear.

Judy is the judge on television. Do you ever watch Judge Judy?

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land.

I’m going to visit our president in the White House, and then go back to my white house.

See the difference?

When you add an abbreviation, look out. Or in my case, look up … I am constantly referring back to The Chicago Manual of Style.

Clarence Thomas, JD (Juris Doctor aka Doctor of Law), is a Supreme Court judge.

So his academic title is in caps. Great. But instead of a law degree, what if he were a doctor of philosophy, a PhD?

Why isn’t the “h” capitalized like JD or DDS (Doctor of Dental Surgery) or DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine)? I don’t know!

Here’s more “abbreviation-capitalization” crazy:

HIV - all caps; Dr. – not. NFR (National Finals Rodeo) all caps, Mr. - not. Supposedly, all caps for words that are abbreviations of proper names, lower case for others, like mpg. If that’s the case, isn’t “Dr.” an abbreviation of a proper title – Doctor? Shouldn’t Dr. Zhivago be DR Zhivago?

Hmmm.

My last thought on caps (at least my current last thought) concerns words, even sentences, in all CAPS. I LOVE YOU. I MISS YOU. GONE TO HAWAII – WISH YOU WERE HERE.

I read this and immediately think the writer is shouting. I see BIG letters and think BIG voice. Obviously, the writer thinks the CAPITALIZED words are very very important, which makes me wonder. Are the rest of the words not important? Should I skip ‘em?

Ah, the English language. It’s mind-boggling how many ways we confuse ourselves! Here is just one example of the absurdity of it all:

HOMOGRAPHS are words that share the same spelling, but have different pronunciations.

Dressed in a lovely gown with a bow, I bow before the Queen.

I will lead the way to see the Queen, whose crown of lead  is very heavy.

HOMOPHONES are words that share the same pronunciation, but have different spellings.

I bow before the Queen from under the bough of the tree.

Dressed in a lovely gown with a bow, I went to see the Queen with my beau.

The Queen just bought another pair of shoes, the color of a Bartlett pear; she really needs to pare down her collection!

HOMONYMS share the same spelling AND the same pronunciation:

Dressed in a lovely gown with a bow, the Queen shot her bow and arrow.

Now it can get more complicated… so reader beware!

CAPITONYMS share the same spelling but have different meanings (and usually different pronunciation) when capitalized.

The Queen was nice enough to take me with her to Nice, France.

The Queen told her maid to polish the furniture before her Polish guests arrive.

But it gets even crazier!

Homophones (words that sound the same) can also be homographs if they are spelled the same:

The Queen tires easily when she changes the tires on her carriage.

Isn’t this the definition of a homonym?

HETEROGRAPHS are homophones (same sound) that are spelled differently:

The two of us are going to the see the Queen, too.

What??? Isn’t this the definition of a homophone?

And here’s another one:

Desert is an example of a HETERONYM, a subclass of homograph:

He had to desert the Queen’s troops in the sweltering desert.

Why is this a subclass? Why isn’t it just a homograph? Why isn’t a homograph just called a heteronym? Who made up all these words?

Oh yes, heteronyms are sometimes called HETEROPHONES. I don’t know why and I can’t find an example, but I read it somewhere. I wish I could explain it, but I don’t think it’s possible. All hail the Queen!

I’m all for enthusiasm and energy ― in speech and in writing ― but I just can’t handle a writer’s overzealous use of the exclamation point.

You know what I’m talking about. The email from your friend on vacation in Hawaii who writes, “How beautiful and sunny it is here!!!” Or the teenager who proclaims in a love letter, “I LUV U SO MUCH!!!! I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOU!!!”

Don’t get me wrong. I believe in love and paradise vacations, but I get the point the first time; more exclamations are just overkill.

When I see something written with an abundance of exclamation points, I immediately think I’m reading a comic book. Have you ever read one? I think the first rule of writing a superhero comic book story is that every single sentence ends with at least one exclamation point. Pow! Bam!! Zap!!!

My advice: Unless you’ve been tied up and thrown into the trunk of a car, luckily able to find a scrap of paper where you desperately scribble the words, “Help! I’ve been kidnapped!!” before your captors lock you in, don’t use them.

I mean it!

I realize that there are more important things in the world to worry about than the misuse of the apostrophe, but still, it is aggravating. Why can’t people - highly intelligent people at that - use the apostrophe appropriately? Here are some helpful hints:

NO apostrophe is needed when the word is plural:

The boys in the band are crazy.

When showing possession for ONE boy, the apostrophe is before the “s”:

The boy’s band is crazy. (By himself… Before)

When showing possession for many boys, the apostrophe is after the “s”:

The boys’ band is crazy. (Think of All the boys… After)

Simple, right?