Atlanta Guest, Darlene Buchholz and Annie Oortman, the Grammar Divas





The Grammar Divas graciously treated us to a 'Grammar' workshop on the 5th of February. The all day workshop at the SLC Library was awesome. And not just enjoyed by URWA members, we had several writers from the Utah League of Writers join us as well. Yeah!

The audience questions seemed to be about what the editor wanted and what the writer wrote. Do you follow each 'suggestion' because the editor said to, or do you 'the writer' get to decide. Its our voice, right? This is our story and we should be able to write it our way.

Sometimes it is a Grammar problem that needs fixed and sometimes it is simply the editors preference. So, as a writer, we need to weigh our options. If it fixes the line or paragraph, then you take it and say, 'whew, thanks, sounds a bucket load better.' But, if it changes the 'author's voice' then the author has to decide. There are so many ways to repair a sentence that doesn't touch the voice at all. And, it could be a simple thing as removing the 'fat' or unnecessary words from the sentence, that will tighten it up while never changing the meaning at all.

My editing is going to remove an awful lot of 'fat' which means word count, which means broadening the telling but bundles. Gee, guess Dani has some more adventures to experience. So, off I go to better my book :-)  With a great big thank you to Darlene and Annie.

Lisa Williams, me, Darlene Buchholz and Annie Oortman with 'the bear' in Park City, Utah 2-6-2011




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