Friday, May 29, 2009

Where in the Hell Did that Good Title Go that I Thought of in the Shower?

Cutting down on showers hasn't helped me remember all my brilliant ideas—but it has cut down the social invitations that distract my brilliant thinking

For me, one of the sticky parts of having a writing business is whether or not to adhere to arcane usage and grammar. You run the risk of people (namely your clients) thinking you made a mistake, and then you get into a whole big rigamarole of not offending anyone while explaining why it's not "between you and I" but rather "between you and me."

That's not even arcane, that is basic grammar (me is the object of the preposition between). I think Bill Clinton, Hillary's husband, got everyone screwed up on the "me and I" bit. He used "I" all the time.

I am speaking more of items like "whet one's appetite." Of course we think it is "wet" because we think of mouth watering. And (oops! starting a sentence with a conjunction), if I had not been corrected by some nitpicker who had the time to email me, I would not know that "whet" means to sharpen, like a whetstone sharpens knives.

So, do I insist upon the use of "whet" or go with "wet"? I should use "whet one's appetite" and let the client make the decision. It doesn't matter how uncomfortable it may be to correct someone, especially if they hired you.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Breaking the Blog Hymen

The PLAN is to blog my true self—or how I hope to portray my true self; I'm not going to go on about polishing off a bag of potato chips because my mom bugged the hell out of me when I took her to Trader Joe's—so I can conduct my writing business without feeling totally robbed of creativity. And it is OK if my clients see the blog because they pay me to write what they want written. They don't pay me to indulge my inner artist. And it's not like I'm going to bite the hand that feeds me and bag on my clients or anything. If they want me to do that, they'll have to pay me!

The FANTASY is for the blog to be a smashing success—it becomes one of the hottest read items on the Internet (all through word of mouth), gets optioned into a book followed by the inevitable screenplay. I get paid tons of money and of course I use a fair portion of it to make society a better place, such as healthcare for all, making sure everyone has access to a fabulous education, and a clean environment. Miraculously, through the whirlwind of all that excitement I turn into a raving beauty, or at least that gash of a frown line bisecting my forehead disappears.

The REALITY is I'm making a commitment to blogging three times a week. And knowing me, it just may be three times on a Saturday night just so I can say I did my blogging for that week. I'll probably even turn the computer on and off in between blogs for that authentic feel (don't want my computer to think I'm lying/cheating).