Friday, March 04, 2011

Good Grammar, Bad Grammar — Both Work for Me

It occurs to me today that I owe my career to the simple process of creating a well-constructed sentence. It has taken me from reporter to proofreader to copyeditor to editor to writer to author. How lucky am I?

The nitty-gritty details of truly working with words aren't of particular interest to most outside the field. But give me a blank page to fill or someone else's manuscript to hone, and I am happy to do what I do best: shape and polish, write and revise — in other words, use the guiding principles of English grammar to craft language that effectively communicates the intended message to its audience.

Yes, there's quite a bit more going on than "just" grammar in any piece of writing or editing. But if you take grammar out of either one, well . . . you can't do that.

I am grateful for my work. And that is reason enough for me to celebrate National Grammar Day.

If all goes well, Good Grammar, Bad Grammar, and I will continue finding satisfying ways to collaborate until one of us expires.

I sincerely hope, of course, that I am the first of our happy trio to go.

4 comments:

Glenn said...

Is that your office or a surrogate? Posh! Also cat heaven— so many things to knock off while strolling by on little cat feet ...

Lisa said...

It's my office. There's always too much stuff in there. The desk is relatively clean at the moment, though.

I lived with a cat in college, and I remember well him strolling across the desk (and all other possible surfaces). His favorite late-night spot was squarely on top of whatever open textbook I needed to see.

Maeve Frazier said...

Just stopping by your blog! Hi from the east coast!

Pauline Fisk said...

Hello Lisa, I'm a childrens' author in the UK of many years' standing, writing novels for young teenagers. I am, however, entirely new to the world of blogging and very much feeling my way. Your site seems very warm, friendly, providing plenty to enjoy reading and think about. You've obviously been doing it for quite a long time. Would you look at mine and tell me if you think I've got off to the right start? I'm to be found on paulinefisk.co.uk. Any tips would be warmly received.