by Catherine L. Tully

I know I have mentioned this great resource before, but only in passing. Grammar Girl is a heavy-duty tool for the writer–new or experienced. Mignon Fogarty is the name behind this character, and her “Quick and Dirty Tips For Better Writing” include goodies such as:

• Affect vs. Effect
• Toward vs. Towards
• All Right vs. Alright
• Lay vs. Lie

These are excellent, bite-sized tips for the writer that can mean the difference between getting a query nod and having the editor hit delete. Let’s face it–in this business, you’ve got to know what you are doing when it comes to grammar and sentence structure.

It doesn’t really matter how you decide to keep up with Grammar Girl. She’s on Twitter and she even has her own podcast on iTunes. A little honesty? It’s the only podcast that I have actually downloaded and listened to on my iPhone.

Naturally, if you prefer a good, old-fashioned book you can go that route as well.

Why am I so excited about this? Well, grammar is huge, and it is usually presented in the most awful, boring format. Grammar Girl gives it to you straight, but in a palatable way, without taking too long to get the point across. I’m a serious fan.

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First of all…if you haven’t yet taken advantage of the free app from Dictionary.com for the iPhone, Blackberry or Android, don’t waste time–get it now. This is a great resource to have with you on the go, and you never know when you will need it. Plus, it’s free.

Next. Grammar.

I’ve seen it one time too many lately, and I thought I would share a great resource for knowing when to use it’s as opposed to its. Once you know the rules, it isn’t hard. (Or should I say it’s not hard?)

As I was writing this post I realized something. It’s so easy to get lazy as a writer. To avoid looking up rules and just go with another choice when trying to put together a sentence. I’m going to start sharing the tidbits I have picked up along the way with Freelance-Zone readers. Consider this the first of many!

On every page of a well-established content supplier, you’ll read: “Let’s discuss your content needs formulate a content marketing proposal.”

On another site that wants to sell you writing services:”A technical writing company with a specialty in Internet, telecommunications, and software development topics.”

And most infamously, in a crucial political race on the east coast, an advertisement for Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley’s senatorial campaign misspelled the name of the state. According to LegalNewsline.com, “After a three-person debate Monday night, an attack ad on Republican state Sen. Scott Brown paid for by the state’s Democratic Party spelled it ‘Massachusettes.’ The ad was ‘authorized by Martha Coakley for Senate and approved by Martha Coakley.”

Yes, we all do it. Unfortunately, we all seem to do it right where you need everything to be PERFECT. There’s probably even one or two lurking in this post somewhere. Or did I put them in on purpose to see if you’re still with me?

Spell check is only useful about half the time. The other 50 percent requires a keen eye, attention to detail, and some extra caution when you’re about to put your words out there in a make-or-break situation. When I need to be dead certain about every single word, I do three things:

–read the piece aloud first
–print and go over it line by line with a ruler
–proofread the document backwards starting with the last word.

It’s not foolproof, but it helps, and I have much more peace of mind when the work goes out the door. What do you do?

–Joe Wallace

I hadn’t see this site before, but Writing Forward had a nice post on creative writing that I thought I would share with Freelance-Zone readers today. It is advice from several writers, not just one, which is always interesting. While you are there, check out the rest of the site–it’s got some neat stuff on it. Personally, I enjoyed the areas on grammar and better writing. (BTW, this is one of the 2009 Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers too!)

by Catherine L. Tully

I know a lot of people who are really good writers, but they aren’t all getting paid good money. I remember one writer that frequented a forum that I visited frequently. She was a better writer than I am, and she was frittering her time away writing for publications that paid five or ten dollars an article. She finally had to give up and return to the corporate world. The sad part is…if she just would have upped her markets a bit, she may have realized that she was underselling herself.

You see, good writers don’t always get paid what they are worth just because they have talent. They also have to have some drive and a willingness to take chances. Part of being a writer is taking risks. By stretching yourself, you will begin to learn your limitations…but more importantly…you will grow. Every time I got a gig at a magazine that was “out of my league” at the time, I had to work harder to make the piece shine. And I improved every time.

Now I’m not saying that you don’t have to know what you are doing. Learn your grammar. Study punctuation. Get the basics polished and ready. You have to have that stuff down before you can really compete. But once you have a good handle on it, get in the game. For every ten queries you send out, make one a flyer and go for a bigger market. Eventually you’ll hit one. Then come back and let everyone here know that it really works!

It doesn’t get any better than this. If you want to invest some time brushing up on your grammar, check out the resources given on this site: The University Of Chicago Writing Program. The sources are updated several times a year, so bookmark this baby and check back often.

Seeing that one fills me with the urge to go on a tri-state killing spree. The reason it looks “right”? You’re the victim of millions of bad menus, billboards, advertisements and other material. It looks WRONG now, you’ve seen it done badly so many times that right looks wrong. Welcome to Orwell land.

My handy memorization rule for apostrophes: Two basic uses–don’t bother any any others and you’ll never abuse them:

1. Used in a contraction. If you can’t remember how to properly render the apostrophe in a contraction, just spell it out instead. “It is” instead of “it’s” as in “It’s all about the Benjamins.”

2. Used to make a possessive. “Jeremy’s bicycle is a piece of crap.” “The creature’s claws got stuck in Jimmy’s scalp.”

A great mnemonic memory device for proper use of the apostrophe when it comes to “it is” or the possesive of “It” comes by way of Charles Bukowski, who wrote a book of poems called “It Catches My Heart In Its Hands”

Notice the apostrophe is omitted on the possessive of its. If my fuzzy memory serves me right, once upon a time they added an apostrophe AFTER the s, but that’s dropped out of the vernacular.

I guess I’m on a tear when it comes to spelling, grammar and usage lately, but we can all use the help, eh? Here is yet another good resource for you. There are a bunch of helpful tips on this site. Have at it–and improve your writing!

I think it is important to always be on the lookout for ways to improve your writing skills. Here are five things you can do that can help you polish your craft:

1. Volunteer. Become a writing tutor somewhere and help others learn how to write well. It will help you brush up on your skills and remind you of the basics.
2. Teach. If you have to break things down for others, it will make you think them through.
3. Take a class. Look at your local community college and see if they have something interesting. Take a poetry class. Try a grammar course. Learn about language.
4. Read a book. What is your weakest area? Find a book on it and get to work. You get as much out of writing as you put into it. Hone your skills.
5. Add to your knowledge. Learn ten new vocabulary words a month. Save magazine articles you enjoyed and study them to figure out what the author did to draw you in.

You can do any of these–or all of them. The more you work at becoming a good writer, the better the chance you have of getting published and making a living doing what you love. Simply put–you can’t know too much!

After looking at Joe’s post on improving your writing, I got to thinking about the fact that as a writer, it is easy to get lazy. Pressing deadlines or the search for more work can easily take priority over polishing and refining your writing skills. I would have to argue that to let this happen is a serious mistake. Investing in yourself is just as important as anything else in this field.

What does “investing in yourself” mean? Tightening your prose. Memorizing new vocabulary. Improving your grammar. Ask yourself–when is the last time that you spent some time doing these things? If you aren’t sure, or you don’t do them on a regular basis; now’s the time to get going. All writers should be aware of what they are a little weak on in terms of writing. Spend a bit of time shoring it up–you’ll be glad you did in the long run!