the death of a language

Sometimes I wonder if the English language isn't dying a slow, agonizing death.

Every day, I see the language mangled and abused in a variety of ways and by a variety of people. Sometimes, it's merely functional--for example, using abbreviations in a tweet because of the length limitations. Sometimes, though, it's out of either laziness or ignorance. This is what I can't abide. In today's information- and technology-filled world, there is really no excuse for an ignorance of the basic rules of spelling and grammar.

So it's down to laziness.

Maybe it's my background. I am an English teacher, after all. But even among English teachers, I seem to be a bit more of a grammar-nazi. Maybe it's just me. Perhaps I'm just too stuck on the rules. Rules are made to be broken, are they not?

Short answer: No, they're not.

Grammar and spelling rules exist to help make writing clear, to help make the meaning of the written word unambiguous. Unfortunately, many people don't seem to understand the simple fact that you can't assume your reader knows what you mean--especially when you're not writing in a coherent fashion.

This is perhaps especially important in the world of self-publishing. I recently purchased a self-pubbed book for 99 cents. After reading the synopsis, I was very excited to read the book. However, it didn't take long to realize that this author might not be quite the grammar maven I am; however, if you're going to publish something and charge people to read it (even only 99 cents), you should, at the very least, make sure all your grammar, word choice, and spelling errors are corrected! I find myself cringing on nearly every page.

And here's the really disturbing thing: Amazon is full of five-star reviews for this book. Only three (or so) mention the atrocious grammar. The other reviewers seem unaffected.

Is this because the other reviewers are just more able to deal with the incredible lapses in grammar than others? Or do they honestly just not notice?

And if the latter is the case, what does that say about the state of the written language?

Big Weekend

First of all, I just wrote this post, and then lost it before I could publish. It started as a post full of excitement and optimism. Now I'm grouchy. I'll try to regain the happy fun talk...

So, it was a big weekend! Maddie came over for the first ever Writer's Weekend. It was really awesome to spend the time with Maddie. Plus, I got A LOT done!

First, and most importantly, I completed my first draft. I am so excited! I have never finished a novel length piece before, so I'm awfully proud. Ive been doing a fair amount of revising as I wrote, so I'm hoping the editing/revising process goes fairly quickly.

Speaking of which, I contacted a proofreader. He did a sample for me and I think its going to work out really well, so that's exciting!

Lastly, I contacted a cover artist and spent a lot of time looking through stock photos for the cover. I have at least four very different ideas for what I want, which makes it tough. I wish I had at least some ability to use Gimp or Fotoflexer so I could play around a little. Sigh.

But for the most part, things are going well. I am sitting here on the couch with a binder filled with my draft next to me. I just keep looking at it- I wrote that! I'm so proud of it!

Pathetic, isn't it? Can you imagine how bad it will be when I actually have a paperback proof in my hands?

cut or keep

Well, I've got a rough first draft of Awaking completed. Well, "completed" is perhaps the wrong word to us. I'm missing probably a dozen or so pages--I just skipped over them in favor of writing something over staring blankly at my computer screen.

I printed out all the pages I have so far, I've read through most of them, made some notes, corrected some errors, highlighted some hads...But now I'm to the point where I started skipping stuff to begin with. And I'm faced with the same question that plagued me before: Do I keep a character or do I cut her? In the original plan for this series, she had a definite role to play, but so many things have changed since then. I'm not sure whether she fits anymore. So I can't fill in the spaces now until I decide whether this character stays or goes.

I want her to stay, but I'm not sure if she'll just be taking up space if she does.

So, I guess I need to get into detail about the next two books to see if she has a definite purpose. I always tend to plan my stories out in broad strokes, allowing the characters to fill in the little things. But I don't think that'll work here. Since it's a trilogy, things need to be a bit more planned out.

Sigh. So not my style. But if it'll serve my purposes/help me writing these books faster/make everything better/cause bunnies to leap for joy, I'll do it.

So, I'm going to take an aspirin (woke up with a headache I've been hoping would go away but hasn't yet), perhaps get a scoop of ice cream, snuggle Fat Baby, and tackle this character conundrum.

Wish me luck.