www.inkthinkerblog.com — Here’s the skinny on what’s coming up from Washington Independent Writers over the next few months.

NOVEMBER

Seminar—Saturday, November 11
Building Your Freelance Success One Publication at a Time
Program 8:45 a.m.-4:15 p.m., continental breakfast at 8:00 a.m.
Johns Hopkins University, Bernstein-Offit Building, 1717 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20036

As straightforward as its title, this practical, all-day seminar will offer you the best information around on how to succeed in freelance writing. Four panel sessions and a free-for-all discussion all designed with different approaches to improve your writing practice and increase your freelance success.

Pubspeak—Tuesday, November 28

Novelist Frank Schaeffer
Program 7:00-9:00 p.m., food and drink orders after 6:30 p.m.
The Front Page, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22203, (703) 248-9990
Wheelchair accessible
Metro: Orange line–Ballston

Join WIW for an evening with best-selling author, Frank Schaeffer as he discusses his latest novel, Baby Jack, the story of an elite family’s anger, anguish and disintegration following their son’s decision to join the Marine Corps – and his untimely death in the line of duty. Drawing from his own family experiences, Schaeffer writes poignantly about the call to service in both fiction and nonfiction. His books include AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America’s Upper Classes From Military Service, Faith of Our Fathers: A Father’s War Time Diary and Keeping Faith: A Father-Son Story About Love and the United States Marine Corps, which made the extended New York Times bestseller list. Frank and his writing have appeared on “Oprah,” C-SPAN’s “Book TV,” PBS, NPR, CNN and ABC’s “Nightline with Ted Koppel.”

DECEMBER

Workshop—Saturday, December 9

Back to Basics: Good Writing Tips That Even the Pros Forget
Program 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., Bring your own lunch, but soft drinks will be on hand
Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Center, 4805 Edgemoor Lane, Bethesda, MD
Wheelchair accessible
Metro: Red line–Bethesda

Author, A Journalistic Approach to Good Writing: The Craft of Clarity, and teacher, Gettysburg College, Bob Knight shares his experience and helps hone your communication skills, talents and abilities. Enjoy this fun and fascinating review of writing tips that take your copy from mundane to magical.

JANUARY

Seminar—Saturday, January 13, 2007

The Business of Fiction Writing
Program 8:45 a.m.-4:15 p.m., continental breakfast 8:00 a.m.
American University

Brush off those winter doldrums and dust off your own great American novel as WIW devotes a full day to writing – and selling – your works of fiction.

Pubspeak—Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The World of Children’s Writing
Program 7:00 – 9:00 p.m., food and drink orders after 6:30 p.m.
Location to be announced

MORE DETAILS AND REGISTRATION FORMS ON THE WIW WEBSITE: http://www.washwriter.org/

__________________________________________
www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — A colleague on one of my discussion lists was kind enough to share this link to a blog entry that discusses a fairly significant typo that made it into “print” in a column by National Review Online contributing editor James S. Robbins: micobiome.

Although I found Carl Zimmer‘s comments on the error to be rather interesting, I was more fascinated by the comment trail, which includes such brilliant observations as “Oh please – people make spelling mistakes all the time. Ever see a printed book with [sic] a spelling or grammatical error? I once bought a book that actually had to insert a page of corrections. … Complain about the author’s point, but picking on spelling errors is pointless.”

er?ror? /??r?r/ –noun
1. a deviation from accuracy or correctness; a mistake, as in action or
speech: His speech contained several factual errors.

error. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1). Retrieved November 02, 2006, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/error

Uh, hi, just because people make spelling and grammatical errors regularly (which reminds me, I believe you mean “a printed book without a spelling or grammatical error”) doesn’t mean they they’re not still errors, which, as we now know, makes them wrong.

I think that saying, “Hey, so what, we all make mistakes,” is fine, but frankly I expect better and I think you should, too. From what I can tell, Robbins isn’t a scientist. He appears to be a national security analyst, actually, so I have no idea why he’s writing columns about global warming, but that is neither here nor there. If we all wrote about only things we know, we probably wouldn’t be writing very much. I digress.

Anyway, the fact that he wrote the article doesn’t bother me; it’s that he makes very scientific-sounding arguments, however tongue in cheek (I hope!), but can’t use correct (or, for that manner, existent) terminology. So now I don’t know if he’s a doof and doesn’t know that “micobiome” isn’t a word (You’re talking a big game there if that’s the case, aren’t you, buddy?), or if he’s trying to be funny. Either way, now I don’t trust him because I can’t tell what he’s trying to communicate to me and I don’t know why he didn’t just come out and say it with words he himself understands. My fear is that this demonstrates ignorance on his part. My hope is that it demonstrates carelessness on his part, and possibly on the part of an incurious copyeditor.

This brings me to my point. (Finally, right?) Good writing means clear writing. You can have great ideas and you can talk about them intelligently, but if you can’t write them clearly (and, ideally, interestingly), you’re not a good writer. I don’t care how creative you are–if you can’t construct understandable, grammatically correct sentences, you’re not a good writer. Am I a prescriptivist? You bet I am. Am I also right about this? Yes.

It’s okay to break rules sometimes.

It’s okay to not be born with the entirety of Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition committed to memory.

It’s okay to screw up and vow never to submit without proofreading ever again.

It’s not okay to make your readers question your authority because your writing lacks clear evidence of reliable communication skills.

If you’ve got a skeptical, or even somewhat disinterested, audience to begin with, you’re shooting yourself in the foot with senseless blunders. Every mistake you make is another reason for your reader to, well, stop reading–and that’s never okay.

__________________________________________
www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — Mom to 6-year-old daughter in the Fredericksburg Kohl’s department store:

I do NOT need SIZE 15 UNDERWEAR! smack>

__________________________________________
www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — That’s why my scholarly and academic editing service, Editing for Everyone, has a whole new look and feel. I invite you to check it out, and I encourage you to share the link with friends and colleagues. We’re not just dissertations around here; we do journal articles, complete and partial book manuscripts, and more. Give us a look.

__________________________________________
www.kristenkingfreelancing.com
Finalist in 2006 Writer’s Digest Best Writer’s Website Contest

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King