Many writers cite Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson as the mother and father of contemporary poetry – or perhaps more accurately, as its queer, brilliant aunt and uncle. The two writers may at first seem to have little in common—Whitman is as expansive as Dickinson is compressed, as wild as she is precise. But they [...]
Author Archive: Lisa S.
Quotation Dos and Don’ts
Your Highness: I hold a job that requires I write articles, press releases, and similar pieces in which I quote others. You’d think I’d have such matters down by now, but I’ll come clean: I never really learned the rules for using quotation marks. To complicate matters further, I’m a bit of an Anglophile—only the [...]
Typos of Death
There are just some typos you can’t forget – even if you want to.
The Hair Poets and Others: Seven Things Not to Do When Reading in Public
I write poetry, and I publish it. Which means that I’ve been witness to a lot of bad poetry readings over the years. Great ones, too—but that’s not what this post is about. The problem with poetry, when read in public, is this. As with any art, there’s a lot of it out there. Some very [...]
Damn You, Autocorrect: Bringing Writerly Mortification to the Masses
When those pesky demons get into the phone, the results are both embarrassing and (for once, literally) laugh-out-loud funny.
What Does My Hyphenation Say About Me?
In which The Grammar Queen elucidates her subjects on the proper use of the hyphen. She clears up the subject. Clears-up? The cleared-up subject still a bit foggy? Read on.
What’s My E-mail Saying Behind My Back?
Your Highness:
Many of my business contacts and coworkers know me primarily through e-mail; the impression I make is almost entirely via the written word. What can I do to avoid embarrassing myself in writing? The Grammar Queen points the way.
How do I create a corporate style guide?
Your Highness: I work in marketing at a midsized technology firm. My boss tells me we need a style guide. Yesterday. And I’m just the person to produce it. While I do some writing as part of my job, and I can put commas where they belong—OK, most of the time—I’m not a writer or [...]
Is my writing too passive?
Your Highness: This letter is being written because I’ve been told that there is a problem with my writing. Specifically, a problem with the passive voice. But understanding this is difficult. I mean, my job is in marketing. I’m supposed to be good with words. And language has always come easily to me—out-of-the-box thinking is [...]
