I mentioned that I was having trouble coming up with bad-grammar examples to Melissa the other day, and she said something that made me think. @Deb, probably because whenever we try to come up with examples, they evade us. It happens to me all the time. That is one reason…
MM: Confusing Travel Terminology
Since I’m travelling today, I thought I’d address some of those travel-related words that can get confusing. So please, make sure your safety belts are securely fastened and that your hands are safely on your keyboards, and let’s begin! Plane vs Plain: Plane, of course, is short for “Airplane” and…
Whose Vineyard?*
Remember when we talked about using apostrophes for indicating possession? Well, here’s an interesting tidbit. The United States Board on Geographic Names has a long-standing policy to discourage the use of apostrophes in place names. In 1894, they eliminated 1,665 apostrophes across the country, to widespread shock and dismay, I’m…
A little late
I did post promptly about Monday being the (unofficial) Blogger Appreciation Day, but then I just didn’t get around to telling you who, exactly, I appreciate. I mean, obviously, I appreciate YOU. (And, really, you are my favorite.) But there are other bloggers out there that I appreciate, too, and…
Appreciation
Did you know that Monday is Blogger Appreciation Day? Well, it’s kind of unofficial, but here’s the idea: We’re in it together, blogging is about collaboration and together going further than we can by ourselves – so why not help another blogger today by shooting them a word of encouragement,…
Power Source
Joanna is asking about Power. I’ve written about using your own knowledge to empower your writing, and I’ve written about how a foundation of knowledge can give your writing the power to explore the world beyond those boundaries. But, here’s the thing–none of that matters if you don’t drive your…
Handwriting: Is Italic the Answer?
We talked about ways to improve your handwriting–practice, muscle-control, patience–all that. But what if you simply need a whole, new style? Something different? Something that will be unlike the handwriting you’ve been using and that has fostered such bad habits? Well, Italic Writing may be for you. Of course, you…
Handwriting: Improving Legibility
We have talked about the epidemic of bad handwriting. So now that you know that you’re not alone (if you’re one of the many people suffering from poor penmanship), what can you do if you want to improve yours? Number one answer? Practice. Good penmanship is based on muscle memory,…
Handwriting: Legibility Issues
If you are anything like me, your handwriting is, um, less than ideal. The word “scrawl” may be bandied about, and jokes about illegibility abound. (Though, in this regard, I truly am my father’s daughter.) It’s not just me, though. It’s practically an epidemic. I’ve often said that if a…
Handwriting: The Personal Touch
When is the last time you got a hand-written letter in the mail? A personal note? A greeting card? Exactly. It’s a dying art. I have a drawer full of letters I’ve received from friends over the years, but I cannot remember the last time I actually had a letter to add. Maybe…
Match it for Pratchett
Here’s a slightly off-topic announcement for you. I’m assuming that you all love to read, and that many of you love sci-fi and fantasy books as well. Well, Terry Pratchett (author of the Discworld books) recently came forward with the announcement that he has Alzheimer’s. He’s donated approximately a million…
MM: Emoting
Sure, emoticons are handy little things to toss into an e-mail to a friend. But when they come en masse, they become obnoxious. One bee buzzing around your picnic is atmosphere, but a swarm can get, er, difficult. Similarly, an e-mail with one little smiley face is cute. One that has one after every other sentence? Gag (as they said in my high school days).
Clutter
Jan left a comment on my post about getting started writing where she said, “I find that I am much more productive if I have projects and things ready to go (that includes a clean desk, nothing scatters my thinking more than a cluttered desk).” I agreed whole-heartedly and replied,…
…And the Finish Line
So, we talked about what to do to start your writing for the day, but how about how to finish it at night? Here are some tips: Round out your thoughts. Leaving a thought half-finished often means losing it altogether between writing sessions. The writing doesn’t have to be perfect,…
MM: Overused Vocabulary
One of the most basic tips for good writing: Don’t over-use the same word and don’t use hackneyed phrases that have been used so much they become cliche. I notice this the most in my “casual” writing, things like e-mails to friends, comments on blogs, and the like. One of…
March Forth!
You realize, of course, that today’s date is actually a complete sentence? A command, to be precise. “March Forth!” It still amazes me that I was well out of college before I realized that this date was actually grammatically correct–the only one of the year. My sister calls it “Parade…
Blog-Worthy Writing
So, Sol asked about how the rules of writing for a blog are different than the rules for other kinds of writing. Now, this is a topic that has been covered at length by better bloggers than I, but it’s a good question and one that I’ve been circling around.…
Knowledge TO Power
I wrote last week about the “Knowledge is Power” theory of writing, but here’s the corollary: If you tie yourself too tightly to “fact” or “experience,” you are effectively limiting your potential. Instead, use that knowledge as a springboard. This is most obvious when writing fiction. Fiction thrives on conflict,…
Better Than Two Pistols at Dawn
I know. The tone here at Punctuality Rules! is so calm and gracious, it’s hard to believe that I basically started the blog as a place to air a whole series of pet peeves. People who can’t keep its/it’s, your/you’re or they’re/there/their straight. People who can’t be bothered to say thank you.…
Poetic Pause
I’ve participated in the Bloggers’ Silent Poetry Reading for the last two years over on my knitting blog (here and here), so I couldn’t let this year’s festivities go by without playing, now, could I? I thought about posting one of my own poems, but figured it was better to…
Acknowledgement
Let me ask you two simple questions: When somebody pays you a compliment, do you thank them? If somebody sends you a gift, do you send a thank-you note? Thank-you phone call? Thank-you e-mail? Chances are, if your mother raised you well, your answer to these two questions was, “Yes.” Because…
A Muse on Muses
So, here I sit in front of this blank screen. I had an idea in my head for a post, opened up the page to write it down, but . . . poof! It disappeared. All I can hope is that it will resurface in time to stand up and…
MM: Recap
It’s the end of the year, of course, and therefore the ideal time for reminiscing. Punctuality Rules! has only been around since October, but, who says we can’t have a retrospective anyway, right? So, in place of our usual “Mangled Monday” feature, let’s look back over the last few months…
Name and Address?
There’s a line in “You’ve Got Mail,” where Meg Ryan’s character protests, “Joe? Just call me Joe? As though you were one of those stupid 22 year old girls with no last name? Hi, I’m Kimberly. Hi, I’m Janice. Don’t they know you’re supposed to have a last name? It’s…
Homespun
As a knitter, I recently read a couple of articles about the upswing of making things by hand, and also an, um, unique competition for sock knitters, with great interest. “Handmade isn’t a fad… it’s a resurgence, one that is of a piece with the booming interest in organic food,”…
Building Blocks
So, what would you say was the main building block of writing? That’s right, class. The words. The way you put them together is of utmost importance, naturally, but ultimately, if you don’t have the vocabulary, all the technique in the world will avail you nothing. (This is one of…
Writing Traditions
I spent most of my weekend immersed in family tradition (namely, baking Christmas Stollen for my Dad), and in between shuttling cookie sheets of loaves in and out of the oven, I was thinking about tradition. We all know about writing traditions. There are entire mythologies surrounding them. The hard-bitten…
Un-Reality Calling
Are you a Pragmatist or a Dreamer? Do you prefer to spend your time in reality or a world all your own? For whatever reason, this question has been on my mind a lot lately, possibly because there is such a dichotomy staring me in the face every day. Reality…
Perfection
Here’s a tricky question for you: Do you demand perfection? Of yourself? Of others? It’s a hard one, isn’t it? Personally, I feel that I’m about one, short step away from being a perfectionist–I know that perfection is impossible to achieve, and yet my standards of behavior are quite high.…
Not Quite So Holy
This has always been a word that intrigued me. Its root comes from “Holy Day,” of course, but it’s come to mean so much more. It’s used for a day off work or for a religious holy day. The Brits (“We’re going on holiday to the Brighton”) use it the…