writerjenn

Last night, while writing, I debated whether to put a comma in a sentence that was "supposed" to have one. I believe the rule I'm referring to is the one about compound sentences joined by a conjunction, but I'm better at knowing how to apply a rule than knowing what it's called. Anyway, the pace and emotional tenor of the sentence changed with the comma. The narrator of that sentence was desperate, on the edge, and the comma forced a pause where he really wasn't pausing. I decided to leave out the comma. This is only a second draft, after all, and the whole paragraph could change several more times before anyone else reads it.

But imagine my amusement to read this earlier today, in Writers [on Writing]: Volume II: More Collected Essays from the New York Times:

"Or, if proper usage gets in the way, it may have to go. I can't allow what we learned in English composition to disrupt the sound and rhythm of the narrative."--Elmore Leonard, "Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle"

Incidentally, I just noticed that my copy of this book now has claw marks on the cover. I'm not pointing any fingers here, but I suspect that a certain cat who lives in this house was looking for something to read.

I also want to mention that MotherReader has rounded up all the posts from last weekend's Kidlitosphere conference, including the one from Jama Rattigan providing photographic evidence that I did meet her right-hand man bear, Cornelius. And for those who were asking: the next KidlitCon will apparently be in Minneapolis.