Icelandic comma left (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I, like, to, write, but, I, am, comma, challenged! That’s right. I have a hard time with comma’s. I put them in, take them out, put them in, take them out.
Comma’s can change the entire context of a sentence and as a writer I am always unsure of where I should put my comma’s. I need to go back to school and brush up on the proper way to use comma’s and other detailed things that have to do with the proper use of words. However, I don’t want to. Thank God for editors.
My editor at the Albert Lea Tribune brushes up my writing. My editor at the Cozy Cat Press hopefully brushes up my comma’s. Of course if I put a comma after every word as I did in the first sentence I might get chastised a little.
The problem I have with more learning is time. I work full time, I write, I have a household to manage and I have volunteer activities that are important to me. I can make myself crazy worrying about my comma’s or I can put my heart out there with my writing and let the chips fall where they may.
I know there are mistakes in my books. There are people, that when they read a book they check grammar and spelling and yikes, comma’s. When I read a book I don’t notice those things unless they greatly impact the story, because I am interested in the story, the emotion or the suspense.
If I worry about the grammar and comma’s of the writer I can’t lose myself in the story and that to me is what it is all about. Unless something is very poorly written, I don’t notice because I am lost in the imagination of the writer of the book. I am lost in the reality or fantasy of the story.
If I take the time to worry that I might make a comma mistake or a grammar mistake that will be critsized by the reader I would never write.
So, criticize, my, use, of, comma’s. I, admit, I, am, comma, challenged. Look, beyond, a missing, or, misplaced, comma and, find, the, story. It, might, be, so, much, more, important, than, comma’s.
Sprinkled Notes 