My undergrad degree was in English. I even made an A in Advanced Grammar. I know the difference between their, they're, and there, and I use them appropriately. I know how to use apostrophes. Occasionally I correct other people's grammar in posts on Facebook. I thought all of this made me a Grammar Nazi.
Turns out I was wrong.
In the past few months I've been chasing a dream I like to call Getting Paid to Write. It involved learning some new skills and growing in areas that I thought I had already achieved gold medals of awesome. In short, I spent the last three months having editors give me feedback on my writing, both fiction and nonfiction.
Turns out, not only am I not a Grammar Nazi, I frequently use adverbs instead of strong verbs. (lol. I thought of that line while I folded laundry a few minutes ago.) My sentences have been passive and weak and riddled with commas in the wrong places. Commas are, in fact, my nemesis. Nemeses?
Lucky for me, I already know how to receive feedback: say thank you and take every single comment seriously. Otherwise, this would have been a more difficult and less successful process. Not that I've arrived. I still receive feedback on my submissions, and maybe it will continue to happen for a while, yet. For now, I'm going to be spending some time reading grammar books and blogs every day, and re-reading my own work carefully. Maybe I'll catch all those embarrassing mistakes before I submit my work, and eventually, I'll get it right more often the first time.
PS - Did you catch that I'm actually GETTING PAID TO WRITE!?! You probably won't be seeing my nonfiction unless you read machine control blogs or articles on dental hygiene or lawnmower parts, but my contemporary romance will be available through Books to Go Now soon!
