For Better Writing
The Story of Grammar Improvement and Other Stuff
I’ve been a writer for a long time. I’ve been a reader for even longer. My education was a bit disjointed, but English grammar, writing, and reading were always part of my English classes. Living in a military family, I went to 13 different schools in 12 years. As I edged into high school, the grammar lessons mostly stopped, though I remember a teacher asking me to diagram sentences at some point. I thought it was fun, and I remember learning a lot of new grammatical rules.
Aside from that, it’s been grammar by the seat of my pants, which has worked for me until now.
I finished writing a book at the end of last December. I started it for the NaNoWriMo writing challenge in November. Write as much as you can toward a goal of 50,000 words for a month. I stretched mine to 60,000 words and easily reached that goal by the end of November. The book wasn’t nearly finished then, and I pushed through until Christmas to hone it, flesh it out, and get it to 80,000 words. That’s when I handed it over to my husband to read.
My husband is a publisher and has been an editor for 30 years. Plus, he wouldn’t charge me. I was a little nervous because back when we were dating, I asked him to read a paper I’d written in college. He massacred it. Or rather, I didn’t do a good job, and he found a bazillion mistakes. I remember crying; it was so brutal.
Forty-six years later, I presented him with my book.
That was on December 25, 2023. Fast-forward a few months, and I still had not heard anything from him. I was on pins and needles. Then, a few days ago, he mentioned that he would read a friend’s book. He wouldn’t ask for money, and I was puzzled. I gave mine to him first. Even though I was expecting bad news, I asked him how he was doing with my book.
“You have bad grammar. I couldn’t even read three pages of it. You need to take it through a grammar checker.”
I asked him what level of checking he would recommend: casual, professional, or scholarly. He said professional.
What I think is that I need to beef up my grammar.
I just signed up for an 80,000-word goal for the April 2023 NaNoWriMo camp. I titled my project: How To Get Published. Hey, it’s the next step for me. I’m going to give it a whirl. So, 80,000 words means I need to crank out 2,667 words a day, or just to be easy, 3,000 words a day. That’s about three stories for Medium a day. I can do that. I think.
Nothing to get you more cranked up than a challenge.
I am also looking into tutoring with grammar. I’ve listed a few places below. I’m more inclined towards Khan Academy just because I like Sal Khan. In 2004, his 12-year-old cousin asked for help with her math class. He was able to tutor her on the telephone, and not too long after that, she was able to be placed in a higher-level course at her school.
Two years later, Sal was showing off at a dinner party, and somebody suggested that he broaden his scope and start a YouTube channel. By then, he’d tutored another dozen cousins and a few people outside the family. In 2009, 50k to 100k folks were coming for help every month. The Khan Academy is available now in 50 languages. They are constantly expanding their curriculum and the help they can give students. It is a non-profit organization, and everyone can use it.
If you know of any good places to brush up on grammar, please let me know in the comments.
Tips for other writers? Never stop learning and write every day.
Thanks for reading.
The Links
NaNoWriMo — National Novel Writing Month. The big one is in November, but they have camps in April and July. You can join them anytime and set yourself up with a personal challenge. The events are free, and it started with 20 people in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley, California, in 1999.
Now, they are global, with tons of people writing. I’ve participated since 2000 off and on and credit NaNoWriMo for helping me write five books. They have not been published yet, but I can say I wrote them.
Khan Academy Grammar Course — I have long been a fan of the Khan Academy. It is all free.