Lately, I’ve noticed some of my blog entries contain sentences that look like this:

Yes, we’ve all been tripped up by the occasional extra the definitive article in something we are writing. But it makes me cringe when I see it in something I’ve already hit the PUBLISH button on. I start to feel sweat dripping from my armpits as I madly scramble back to fix and restructure the grammar and form in my lowly sentence.

In an effort towards better writing, I have purchased these two helpful books:

The Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing is a handy guide for punctuation and sentence structure. In the chapter on “How to Start Sentences and Paragraphs”, it clearly outlines how NOT to start a sentence.

However
Hopefully
Because
A number
A conjunction such as but, or and, etc.

Fabulous! I regularly break all of these rules! Now when writer block descends, I can stress about the rules, right?

It’s actually a pretty humorous book, and I really liked the section called Internet Intervention, which gives guidance on terms as on-line versus online (it’s online), and another gem called “No Matter what Bush said, it’s not called the Internets”. No, indeed.

The second book I’m reading is Sin and Syntax (How to Create Wickedly Effective Prose). Naturally, that caught my eye, because who doesn’t want to write something funny, poignant, or compelling? This book also addresses many of the same grammar issues, but breaks it down into categories I can totally relate to:

Bones: The grammar sermonette
Flesh: Parts of Speech and Syntax
Cardinal Sins: Sets you straight on disastrous transgressions
Carnal Pleasures: Writing can also work when it defies the rules

I’m pretty sure they had me at Carnal Pleasure here, folks. I truly tend to type at breakneck speed when I have an thought, and sometimes hastily dump it out without thinking it through. And it’s all Carnal Pleasures fault, I’m pleased to say.

Although I can’t promise I’ll be a grammar goddess overnight, I sure plan to improve my writing on all fronts. GAH willing, you won’t be reading blog entries like this anymore:

What? You can’t figure that out? Here’s to better grammar!

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