Mary, I’m so delighted I found your Substack this afternoon! I’ve been playing with the idea of starting one for too long. Mostly because my interests and ideas seem random, and I wonder who might actually come along. Working on gaining some courage—even if it’s just a spoonful. Anyway, your posts here are refreshing and empowering. Looking forward to reading more!
Erika, thank you! Welcome, kindred spirit. My " interests and ideas (too )are random." Yes, to self-expression. It is interesting that the more I write, the more I actually see a pattern my writing and ideas. Can't wait to read your Substack!
Always had issues with senseless rules, in my opinion, and authority figures who offered no explanations and were just bossy in general. I love your rule about just being a good human!!
And that you are , a good human. Right now, Grammarly tried to stop me from putting a comma there! Perhaps, because as a society, we pause so little, there are fewer commas. I am a great believer in the pause, and reflect. From One Good Human to Another.
For me, Mary, it’s the em dash! I like to give my readers the opportunity, if they wish, to obtain more information—sometimes useful or sometimes frivolous, yet colorful—that I offer! And, yes, I love commas too! Please add me to your list of Comma Supporters!
Love the em dash too! Yes, for all the reasons above! Look at us, bending the rules of punctuation. Ha/ha Thank you for your comment and for reading my piece. "They broke the rules of punctuation. They called themselves, Punctuation Punks.
Though I love Strunk & White (going out of print? Oh, no!), I agree with you in being rather tired of rules! As aspiring novelists, we constantly face the admonition that we must follow the rules until we become famous--and then we can break them. But I've already picked a select few to break myself, and I say: Bravo to your comma courage!
Mary, I’m so delighted I found your Substack this afternoon! I’ve been playing with the idea of starting one for too long. Mostly because my interests and ideas seem random, and I wonder who might actually come along. Working on gaining some courage—even if it’s just a spoonful. Anyway, your posts here are refreshing and empowering. Looking forward to reading more!
Erika, thank you! Welcome, kindred spirit. My " interests and ideas (too )are random." Yes, to self-expression. It is interesting that the more I write, the more I actually see a pattern my writing and ideas. Can't wait to read your Substack!
Always had issues with senseless rules, in my opinion, and authority figures who offered no explanations and were just bossy in general. I love your rule about just being a good human!!
And that you are , a good human. Right now, Grammarly tried to stop me from putting a comma there! Perhaps, because as a society, we pause so little, there are fewer commas. I am a great believer in the pause, and reflect. From One Good Human to Another.
For me, Mary, it’s the em dash! I like to give my readers the opportunity, if they wish, to obtain more information—sometimes useful or sometimes frivolous, yet colorful—that I offer! And, yes, I love commas too! Please add me to your list of Comma Supporters!
Love the em dash too! Yes, for all the reasons above! Look at us, bending the rules of punctuation. Ha/ha Thank you for your comment and for reading my piece. "They broke the rules of punctuation. They called themselves, Punctuation Punks.
Though I love Strunk & White (going out of print? Oh, no!), I agree with you in being rather tired of rules! As aspiring novelists, we constantly face the admonition that we must follow the rules until we become famous--and then we can break them. But I've already picked a select few to break myself, and I say: Bravo to your comma courage!
I love that: "Comma Courage." Well, until we become famous, we'll just have to rebel here. Thank you for reading, and Rebel On!
Oh, I've gotten fond of semicolons of late but I'm not sure if I'm always using them correctly. ......
Keep up the writing.....(Oh, ellipses and parenthesis are other faves!) I'm enjoying your work.
I LOVE commas, too! I love using all kinds of punctuation and text features (such as bold and all caps) to indicate how I want my writing to be read.
Keep writing, Mary! The world needs to hear your words...as you would say them...and as you choose to write them!