The Blogathon is the brainchild or WordCount and Freelance Success, which are a couple newsletters that I subscribe to that contain information on the freelance landscape and other pertinent information for people who are independent contractors. The purpose of the exercise it to hone skills and quell the loneliness that can accompany freelancing. While I am not bitten by the loneliness factor, I do use exercises like this to work on my skills.
Recently, I have been doing a lot of work for a group that is more relaxed in their punctuation. While I am a subscriber to the AP style of writing, I don’t always put things where they belong and giving me the option to toss commas to the wind is probably not a good idea. If I don’t adhere (do not) to the AP style, my paycheck doesn’t (does not) come in. Another peculiarity of a publication revolves around the introductory clause. One publication even lets me split infinitives.
I had FANBOYS beat into my head by editors, and when I find someone who doesn’t care if I separate the “but”, I get a little twitchy.
When grammar was being taught in high school, I took mythology. When English was being required, I was taking French. When they signed us up for Literature, I was taking Etymology. When advanced grammar was being assigned, I chose Latin. While I did not like grammar, I do like words, so I naturally gravitated towards whatever class that I could take that I felt would challenge me. Come to find out, grammar challenges me, and I have grammar books next to my computer, and I have few books on my Kindle app. I still mess it up, and I still throw commas on the floor in a fit of frustration.
It doesn’t matter how many books I read, how many tests I take or how many times I have to reread something, I am going to miss a comma or misplace a semi-colon. With that said, the whole purpose of me doing the Blogathon is to take on some of these grammar issues and stare them down. Now, I need to figure out what I am going to write about the next 29 days.
Cheers!
Julie and Blu
