That bug's/bugs'/bugs me!

While there are many other kinds of errors to be found during editing, one that can be particularly hard to find is the errant apostrophe.  It's so easy to skim right over its misuse.

And it's so easy to not realize that its (oops -- it's) missing:

* diggin in the dirt --> diggin'

* mendin the fence --> mendin'

* wishin' this punctuation lesson would end.

But there are other occasions where this popular punctuation mark gets abused.  For example, until is often shortened.  It appears that the alternative till is correct -- it is a version of the word until, though I always think of till as "plow the soil."

Then there is 'til, the abbreviated version of until.

But I've seen other variations that really bug me:

• til (no apostrophe in front -- punctuation police please take notice)

• 'till (mmm....curious)

•  and til' (someone knew it needed an apostrophe -- just didn't know where to put it).

Well, back to my editing, looking for those errant apostrophes.

Don

Trilobite fossil (2.5-inch Flexicalymene meeki) from Kentucky: a big "bug"

Fortunate autocorrects?

While the autocorrect electronic tool has likely saved me from many typos in my writing, it is equally responsible for introducing random new ones.

Take for example a recent email update that I send out to the clan.  I intended to use the term cul-de-sac.  That phrase mysteriously autocorrected to cup-de-sac.  Not a big deal, especially since it spawned a series of humorous responses.  Cup-de-sac: now there's something that can hold water.  And Well, that's really not my cup of tea.  And For lunch, can I please have the half sandwich and cup-de-sac?

But some autocorrects can be more "flagrant".  When my wife was traveling on I-75, she sent a text message on her progress when she stopped for lunch.  It consisted of a single word: bludgeon.  What?!

Almost immediately, another message appeared with the word buffoon.  I respectfully submit that I am not one of those!

The final text read Bluffton.  Now that made sense.  Bluffton is a town on I-75, about 140 miles north of Cincinnati.

Yet even this flagrant example of autocorrect had value.  In addition to the enjoyment of re-telling the story, I used it in one of my novels: Running to Cover.  One of the cities in the book actually has a neighborhood called Bluffton, so "bludgeon a buffoon in Bluffton" became a line in the story.  So that was a fortunate autocorrect -- that double fortune cookie received at a Chinese restaurant probably helped.

Anyway, beware of those unexpected autocorrect topographical....topical geographical....typographical errors.

Don

How Much Would/Wood....

A lot of wood is being chucked in Ohio and surrounding states.  Because the emerald ash borer is wiping out huge stands of native ash trees. 

Gazing at a forest, I find it easy to pick out the dead ash: their leaf-less skeleton limbs dot the horizon.  If only typos in a manuscript were as easy to spot as those ash borer victims poking up through the forest canopy.

But, alas, typos tend to be more elusive: that stray comma, the missing quotation mark, an extra space between words, or the wrong there/their/they're. Ware/wear/where are they hiding?  Finding all of them is sometimes just to/two/too much to bare/bear. 

Digressing a bit, let's look on the positive side of disappearing ash trees.  We did see more woodpeckers in the yard: they apparently developed an appetite for ash borers, though perhaps too late to save the species.  There are fewer leaves to rake in the fall.  And all the dead trees have been a boon to the tree-trimming and firewood industries.  Mounds of wood are being chucked and stacked for winter heating, such as the huge piles created from the 23 trees that were cut out of the neighbor's yard.

So, before the winter would/wood-burning frenzy begins, whose/who's going to clean out the fireplace flew/flu/flue?

Don

KISS

Keep It Simple, Stupid!

That phrase, according to Wikipedia, was a design principle used by the U.S. Navy in 1960.  It seems applicable also to book editing.

Wait a minute!  One of my previous blog posts was about book editing, and here is that same topic again.  Boring!

Maybe, a little.  But KISS is something that I need to keep in mind while editing my own writing.  Keep it simple.  I'm learning.

I'd also like to share a few simple quotes from other writers on the topic of editing.  These came from (where else?) the Internet.  (If it's on the Internet, it must be true.)  Here are the quotes:

“You should edit before and after editing.”
-- Dwayne Fry

“There is no great writing, only great rewriting.”
-- Justice Louis Brandeis

“It was a miracle to me, this transformation of my acorns into an oak.”
-- Betsy Lerner

“Only the writers can change or fix the past by going back to edit old works.”
-- Munia Kahn

“Remove the comma, replace the comma, remove the comma, replace the comma...”
-- R. D. Ronald

So, inspired by these wise writers, I must go back to the manuscript I'm drafting and replace (or is it remove?) that comma -- again.

Don

PS:  On the topic of "acorns into an oak", I do have a brief story.  Was recently in Michigan in an area that is packed with giant oak trees.  One night, a 30-mph wind came off Lake Michigan.  The acorns fell like hail.  The noise, as they pummeled the metal roof, was like machine gun fire.  Bam!Bam!Bam!Bam!Bam!  I don't know if any of them will become oaks, but the chipmunks love 'em.