Should you capitalize the term new year? Only if it's a proper noun. If you want to wish someone a happy new year, and you make that a declarative sentence, then don't capitalize it.
Proper noun -- Happy New Year to all my writer friends and subscribers!
Simple greeting -- I want to wish all my writer friends and subscribers a very happy new year. (No capitals.)
The same is true of merry Christmas. If I’m referring to someone having a merry Christmas, I'm not going to capitalize it because I could just as easily use any other adjective -- happy Christmas, festive Christmas, sober Christmas. However, if I am using the saying “Merry Christmas,” which is much like a command, then I will use the caps:
Merry Christmas! (Command.)
Have a very merry Christmas. (No caps, except Christmas is always capitalized because it’s a proper noun and an occasion.)
Let's hope that most people are drinking too much eggnog to notice if you make the occasional slip with these terms.
Sigrid Macdonald is the author of three books including Be Your Own Editor, available for free download on Smashwords.com from now until December 31.
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10130
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Today's Writing Tip Is on Our Favorite Words
Many writers have certain words that they use repeatedly without any awareness of doing so. Writer A may love the word invariably and use it throughout a business proposal. Writer B may add the phrase "as well" or "too" to the end of dozens of sentences in her novel.
Often it's hard to recognize words that we overuse, which is why it's good to have someone else read your copy before you submit a manuscript or short story to a publisher. Meanwhile, if you blog or write for an audience, ask your readers what words tend to reappear in your work.
I often use whereas and however; I do this in order to avoid using the word but. But there are times when it's better to choose a different word, even if it sounds pedestrian. Bookmark a good thesaurus and search for synonyms for the words that you tend to use often.
Sigrid Macdonald is the author of three books, including Be Your Own Editor, available on Amazon in paperback for $15.34 (http://tinyurl.com/39kx9zq) or Kindle (http://tiny.cc/mzk4c) for $3.99. Buy it directly from me for $9.99 from now until Christmas. Visit http://sigridmacdonald.blogspot.com.
Often it's hard to recognize words that we overuse, which is why it's good to have someone else read your copy before you submit a manuscript or short story to a publisher. Meanwhile, if you blog or write for an audience, ask your readers what words tend to reappear in your work.
I often use whereas and however; I do this in order to avoid using the word but. But there are times when it's better to choose a different word, even if it sounds pedestrian. Bookmark a good thesaurus and search for synonyms for the words that you tend to use often.
Sigrid Macdonald is the author of three books, including Be Your Own Editor, available on Amazon in paperback for $15.34 (http://tinyurl.com/39kx9zq) or Kindle (http://tiny.cc/mzk4c) for $3.99. Buy it directly from me for $9.99 from now until Christmas. Visit http://sigridmacdonald.blogspot.com.
Friday, November 26, 2010
RE: Today's Writing Tip Is When to Use i.e. and e.g.
Many people are unsure about when to use the abbreviation i.e. and when to use e.g. First, let's look at what these abbreviations stand for.
Contrary to popular belief, the initials i.e. do not stand for Internet Explorer! They stand for “id est," which is Latin for "that is to say" or "in other words." E.g. means "for example" or" such as." Its Latin derivative is "exemplī grātiā .” (If you want to abbreviate Internet Explorer, use the capital letters IE.)
Using these in a sentence, we would say, Darren has a strong background in science (i.e., he has studied physics and chemistry.) Or Darren has an extensive vocabulary (e.g., he can think of 25 different synonyms for awesome or amazing.)
Sometimes these terms can be used interchangeably but other times they can't. A good rule of thumb is to remember that i.e. is a clarification. Christopher is my nephew (i.e., he is my brother's son). We have to use "that is" to explain Christopher's relationship to me. It wouldn't make sense to use e.g.
Note that you always want to insert periods with i.e. and e.g. and then to use a comma afterwards.
Sigrid Macdonald is the author of three books, including Be Your Own Editor, available on Amazon in paperback for $15.79 (http://tinyurl.com/39kx9zq) or Kindle (http://tiny.cc/mzk4c) for $3.99. Buy it directly from me for $9.99 from now until Christmas. Visit http://sigridmacdonald.blogspot.com.
Contrary to popular belief, the initials i.e. do not stand for Internet Explorer! They stand for “id est," which is Latin for "that is to say" or "in other words." E.g. means "for example" or" such as." Its Latin derivative is "exemplī grātiā .” (If you want to abbreviate Internet Explorer, use the capital letters IE.)
Using these in a sentence, we would say, Darren has a strong background in science (i.e., he has studied physics and chemistry.) Or Darren has an extensive vocabulary (e.g., he can think of 25 different synonyms for awesome or amazing.)
Sometimes these terms can be used interchangeably but other times they can't. A good rule of thumb is to remember that i.e. is a clarification. Christopher is my nephew (i.e., he is my brother's son). We have to use "that is" to explain Christopher's relationship to me. It wouldn't make sense to use e.g.
Note that you always want to insert periods with i.e. and e.g. and then to use a comma afterwards.
Sigrid Macdonald is the author of three books, including Be Your Own Editor, available on Amazon in paperback for $15.79 (http://tinyurl.com/39kx9zq) or Kindle (http://tiny.cc/mzk4c) for $3.99. Buy it directly from me for $9.99 from now until Christmas. Visit http://sigridmacdonald.blogspot.com.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sale!
From now until Christmas, Be Your Own Editor, which makes a perfect gift for friends, colleagues and family, is available directly through me for $9.99, not including shipping and handling. Please send an e-mail to sigridmac at rogers.com and put BYOE in the subject title. Happy writing! Sigrid
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Using the Find and Replace Feature in Microsoft Word
Many of you are probably familiar with the function within Microsoft Word that allows us to find a particular word or phrase, and replace it with something else. Like the ubiquitous spell-check, sometimes this works wonders and other times it can cause more trouble than it's worth.
Let's say I have a 150 page document and I want to change the name Mark to Marvin. I click on the “Home” tab in Office 2010 at the very far left corner of my manuscript. Then on the far right I see the words “Find,” “Replace” and “Select.” I hit “Find” and type in Mark. Then I click “Replace” and type in Marvin and hit OK. Bravo. Everything converts.
But recently I went into a 3,300 word document and tried to replace the word “she” with “I.” Word made 1,119 replacements! Not exactly the correction that I had in mind. Even though I had capitalized the term “I,” it replaced the character “i” in every word including "with," “interesting” or “line.”
That's because I didn't realize that there is a pull-down menu in the “Find” and “Replace” feature. All I had to do was click on "find whole words only" and I was able to substitute the word "I" for "she." Good thing. I'm co-writing a book that started out as fiction but we've turned it into nonfiction; if I had continued to change all of my words manually, I may have still been writing long after Mars had been colonized.
Now you know how to optimize your use of the Find and Replace feature in Microsoft Word, too!
Sigrid Macdonald is the author of three books, including Be Your Own Editor, available on Amazon in paperback for $15.34 (http://tinyurl.com/39kx9zq) or Kindle (http://tiny.cc/mzk4c) for $3.79.
From now until Christmas, Be Your Own Editor is available directly through me as an e-book for $1.99. Send an e-mail to sigridmac at rogers.com.
Let's say I have a 150 page document and I want to change the name Mark to Marvin. I click on the “Home” tab in Office 2010 at the very far left corner of my manuscript. Then on the far right I see the words “Find,” “Replace” and “Select.” I hit “Find” and type in Mark. Then I click “Replace” and type in Marvin and hit OK. Bravo. Everything converts.
But recently I went into a 3,300 word document and tried to replace the word “she” with “I.” Word made 1,119 replacements! Not exactly the correction that I had in mind. Even though I had capitalized the term “I,” it replaced the character “i” in every word including "with," “interesting” or “line.”
That's because I didn't realize that there is a pull-down menu in the “Find” and “Replace” feature. All I had to do was click on "find whole words only" and I was able to substitute the word "I" for "she." Good thing. I'm co-writing a book that started out as fiction but we've turned it into nonfiction; if I had continued to change all of my words manually, I may have still been writing long after Mars had been colonized.
Now you know how to optimize your use of the Find and Replace feature in Microsoft Word, too!
Sigrid Macdonald is the author of three books, including Be Your Own Editor, available on Amazon in paperback for $15.34 (http://tinyurl.com/39kx9zq) or Kindle (http://tiny.cc/mzk4c) for $3.79.
From now until Christmas, Be Your Own Editor is available directly through me as an e-book for $1.99. Send an e-mail to sigridmac at rogers.com.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Today's Writing Tip Is about Establishing Authority
Often writers want to sound modest, so they say things like "I'm not an authority,” or "I could be wrong.” This may work well in general conversation or on a message board, but it doesn't fly in a book, blog post or an article. Why not? Well, if you're not an authority, why should I care what you write?
Let's say you're discussing bullying. If you preface your remarks by saying that this is just your humble opinion and you may not be right, readers have no reason to give your words any credibility. Take the time and the effort to establish and substantiate your position; then don't undermine yourself by saying that you're not an authority.
Sigrid Macdonald is a book coach, a manuscript editor, and the author of three books including Be Your Own Editor. BYOE is available on Amazon in soft cover (http://tinyurl.com/3xkoths) and on Kindle (http://tinyurl.com/3y3nuzb). Or get 20% off the regular price by writing directly to the author at sigridmac@rogers.com. Read more at http://beyourowneditor.blogspot.com.
Let's say you're discussing bullying. If you preface your remarks by saying that this is just your humble opinion and you may not be right, readers have no reason to give your words any credibility. Take the time and the effort to establish and substantiate your position; then don't undermine yourself by saying that you're not an authority.
Sigrid Macdonald is a book coach, a manuscript editor, and the author of three books including Be Your Own Editor. BYOE is available on Amazon in soft cover (http://tinyurl.com/3xkoths) and on Kindle (http://tinyurl.com/3y3nuzb). Or get 20% off the regular price by writing directly to the author at sigridmac@rogers.com. Read more at http://beyourowneditor.blogspot.com.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Today's Writing Tip Is Those Damn Homonyms
I live in a small residential community that is part of a large metropolis. My neighborhood will be undergoing extensive construction to build a light rail system. I had questions about this so I wrote to my local town councilman. Because I use a voice dictation program, when I dictated my letter, instead of saying Councillor Chiarelli, it said Counselor Chiarelli. I noticed this while I was dictating, but I forgot about it by the end of the letter, and sent it with the wrong title.
What are some of the most embarrassing typos that you've made? My voice program will make some real doozies that don't even resemble typos because they are related to voice, rather than keyboard errors, so I really have to watch homonyms (e.g., when I said, "dictation" above, my Dragon NaturallySpeaking program typed the words "patient program.") I could use a laugh today. Tell me and my readers about your funniest typos. Post them here on my blog.
Sigrid Macdonald is a book coach, a manuscript evaluator, and the author of three books, including Be Your Own Editor, now available on Amazon.com: http://tinyurl.com/2a3zx6t (Paperback) and http://tinyurl.com/2blyqng (Kindle).
What are some of the most embarrassing typos that you've made? My voice program will make some real doozies that don't even resemble typos because they are related to voice, rather than keyboard errors, so I really have to watch homonyms (e.g., when I said, "dictation" above, my Dragon NaturallySpeaking program typed the words "patient program.") I could use a laugh today. Tell me and my readers about your funniest typos. Post them here on my blog.
Sigrid Macdonald is a book coach, a manuscript evaluator, and the author of three books, including Be Your Own Editor, now available on Amazon.com: http://tinyurl.com/2a3zx6t (Paperback) and http://tinyurl.com/2blyqng (Kindle).
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