You Can Quote Me On That!

If you've ever had trouble with quotation marks, you're not alone! When I edited papers in a college English department, some of the most common errors that I ran across were with quotation marks.

Here is a short guide to help you out:

Double Quotations: Double quotation marks (" ") are used when you are quoting, verbatim, what someone said, as long as the quote is under five lines. Ex. George said, "That's enough for me."

Sinlge Quotations: Single quotation marks (' ') are used when you are quoting within a quote. Ex. George said, "When I asked Frank, he said, 'It doesn't matter,' but it matters to me."

Quotations that are five lines or longer: You will use no quotation marks. Indent the quotation one inch on both sides and make sure it is single-spaced.

Coming Up With Ideas

Have you ever had a moment when you sat down at your computer, ready to write, and found that your mind was just as blank as the screen in front of you? Of course you have. We all have. Fortunately, there are exercises that I'm going to share with you that are tailored to get your gears turning.

1. Brainstorming. Sit down with a blank piece of paper and a writing utensil, and simply write down topics that come into your head. No complete sentences are allowed -- just keywords. Once you've finished, review what you've written and choose a topic.
2. Freewriting. Similar to brainstorming, only there's a time limit and you must not stop writing. Set a timer for 10 minutes and then begin writing -- about anything. Whether you have ideas or not, keep writing for the full ten minutes. Examine what you've written to see if something stands out at you.
3. Clustering. Write down a central word that you're interested in and draw a circle around that word. Write down words that you think of when you think of that word, draw circles around them, and link the circles to the main circle. Continue outwardly until you come up with a topic.
4. Talking with friends/colleagues. Sometimes inspiration can be one interesting conversation away.
5. Reading. Read books, billboards, newspapers, websites, etc. to get ideas on recent trends, news stories, and interesting angles.

Writer's block is an ugly monster that we all must face down. Hopefully, with these hints, you'll be putting that monster back to sleep in no time. Best of luck!

Common Mistakes That Make a Copy Editor Cringe

If you're not a copy editor and never have been, you may not know this: Copy editors are rather anal people. Certain grammatical and spelling mistakes have the capability of actually causing us to feel physical pain. (Not really -- but almost.)

If you're a writer looking to ease the irritation of your copy editor or are simply wanting to improve and to be more conscious of common mistakes, bless you. This blog's for you.

Some of the most common mistakes that I found in my copy editing career were as follows:

The your/you're mistake.

• Your is a possesive, meaning "belonging to you." Ex. Your baseball glove is over there.
• You're is a contraction, meaning "you are." Ex. You're going to be late.

The their/there/they're mistake.

• Their is a possesive, meaning "belonging to them." Ex. They lost their mittens.
• There is commonly used as a pronoun, meaning "that place." Ex. I went there.
• They're is a contraction, meaning "they are." Ex. They're going to the movie.

The its/it's mistake.

• Its is a possesive, meaning "belonging to it." Ex. The bird spread its wings.
• It's is a contraction, meaning "it is." Ex. It's okay to bring your friends.

Commonly misspelled words:

• Definitely. Most common misspelling is: "definately."
• Grammar. Most common misspelling is: "grammer."
• Harass. Most common misspelling is: "harrass."
• Apparent. Most common misspelling is: "apparant."
• Publicly. Most common misspelling is: "publically."

Common "words" that are not actually words:

• Alot. It's actually "a lot."
• Snuck. The proper past-tense form of "sneak" is actually "sneaked."
• Layed. The correct past-tense form of lay is "laid."
• Lied (used as the past-tense form of lie [as in "to lie down"]). The correct past-tense form of lie is "lay."

If you have trouble with any of the above, write these tips down on a notecard and keep them close to your working space for reference. The more conscious you are of your mistakes, the less likely you'll be to make them in the future. Good luck and keep writing!

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my little home on the web! As you've probably read in my "About Me" section, my name is Sara L. Wilson and I'm a freelance writer/copy editor. Through this blog, it is my goal to offer tips, suggestions, interesting links, and facts to my fellow writers and would-be writers on my favorite subject and one of my greatest passions in life. What else? Writing!

So, if you enjoy writing, if you write professionally, if you want to write, or even if you're being made to write against your will, for school, I hope that you will find this blog to be an informative and fun resource. Feel free to comment, even if you're just stopping by. Good luck in whatever your projects are and write away!