The Comma Dilemma

When you use commas to separate items in a list or series, do you include a comma before the conjunction near the end of the list? For example:

I write poetry, short stories and articles.

or

I write poetry, short stories, and articles.

Breaking an Old Habit

For years, my habit was to place commas in the manner shown in the first example above. Then, I realized that this was not the most intelligible method, for it left certain sentences open to interpretation; it caused some sentence meanings to be misconstrued entirely. I’ll show you what I mean.

The magazine was packed with colorful ads, snappy titles and articles which I reviewed while standing in line.

or

The magazine was packed with colorful ads, snappy titles, and articles which I reviewed while standing in line.

Notice that in the first sentence, it seems that both the titles and articles are snappy, while in the second sentence, only the titles are snappy.

Punctuation Has a Purpose

Commas are generally best thought of as pauses. Punctuation in general is meant to communicate rhythm and intonation to the reader, much like musical notation tells a player how long to hold a note and when to rest a beat. This is another important aspect of the comma that you might want to keep in mind when considering which approach to use in your own writing. Read the sentence out loud and if a pause is warranted, a comma probably is as well.

Yet, this usage of the comma is not mandated by any means. In fact, whether or not to include the serial comma is technically left up to the writer as a style decision. Leave it in or out as you will, and at your own risk. Either way, there is no grammatical crime committed, though perhaps a style faux pas.

What the Masters Say

According to the The Chicago Manual of Style:

Items in a series are normally separated by commas. When a conjunction joins the last two elements in a series, a comma — known as the serial or series comma or the Oxford comma — should appear before the conjunction.

In case you’re wondering, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association agrees with Chicago on this.

As mentioned, this is a style, not a grammar issue. So, in the end, whatever choice you make as you write, it’s important to keep it consistent. If you use serial commas, use them always, and if you don’t use them, well, make it a point to never use them. When it comes to style, consistency is key.

So, which way does your serial comma blow?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

2007 Milestones and Top 5 Posts

Writing Forward is only four months old. Sometimes I feel like I’ve had this blog for years. Other times, it feels like just yesterday I was developing the concept and trying to find a decent (and available) domain name. As I look back on these past four months, I’m happy to report that the blog is actually performing just a tad better than I would have expected at this point.

After learning as much as I could about blogging, I established a set of milestones, each marking one step toward a blog’s overall success. Though still in its infancy, Writing Forward has already reached two of those milestones. Also, a few posts have done extraordinarily well and I’m learning what readers prefer in terms of content.

Milestones

Writing Forward reached its first milestone when one post took off and soared above the rest. “The 22 Best Writing Tips Ever” became a StumbleUpon hit, and appeared on many other blogs (both in its entirety and excerpted or reviewed). In fact that single post has been viewed almost fifty times more than any other page on this blog. It also made a huge contribution to increasing my ad revenue, and that makes this blogger very happy!

Just last week, I crossed the second major milestone. I was flattered when I received an invitation to join the JCM Enterprises writing team. It is quite an honor to be asked to join the writing team of one of the top ten writing blogs on the Internet! It also tells me that this blog is doing exactly what it’s supposed to be doing — showcasing my writing ability and attracting job offers. I couldn’t be more pleased!

Top 5 Posts of 2007

Some posts get a lot of hits, a significant number of comments, or a large number of links. My top five posts for 2007 enjoyed a combination of these factors:

1. The 22 Best Writing Tips Ever - by far the most successful post on this blog, it helped me to reach one of my blogging goals, was republished, reviewed, and received a whole lot of attention from StumbleUpon users.
2. Is it Farther or Further? - The grammar category performs well as a whole, but this post definitely topped the lot. I guess a lot of folks out there want to know when to use farther vs. further because this one beat out all the others in the Google search results.
3. Stop! Thief! - Copyright infringement is not a good thing. In fact, it’s illegal. Since it’s common out here in the blogosphere, this post brought in traffic as well as comments.
4. Stumbling November - I was actually really unsure about this post, but I decided to brave it, and was relieved when people embraced the idea of Stumbling readers as a way to say thanks.
5. 11 Hot Tips for Writers with Blog - Most blog readers are bloggers themselves. I think that will change over time, but for now, readers seem to appreciate any advice on blogging, which is a form of writing after all.

Originally hosted at melissadonovan.com, and titled Writing for Writers, the site moved to its current domain at writingforward.com, was renamed Writing Forward, and received a design overhaul in mid-November.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

2007: Freelance Writers’ Year in Review

2007 is just about over, and everyone seems to be gearing up for the new year by posting goals and resolutions. I’m working on my goals for 2008 too, but before realistically establishing my goals for next year, I need to take a look at what I accomplished (and didn’t accomplish) this past year. After all, in order to know where you’re going, you need to take a long, hard look at where you’ve been.

For a freelance writer, there is much to consider in terms of reviewing a year’s worth of work. Here are some of the areas that I examined, and questions that I asked in completing my own year in review.

Products and Services

What did you sell in 2007, and what sat on the shelf? Did you focus on writing articles, stories, or a novel, which you shopped around? Or, did you market your writing services, allowing your clients’ needs to direct your energies? If you threw a bunch of balls up in the air and waited to see which ones landed, and which ones bounced, now is a good time to evaluate the areas in which you were most successful, so that next year you only toss balls that have a good chance of landing in cash flow.

Were most of your projects interesting enough to hold your attention, or did you constantly find your mind wandering? If writing web content gets your blood pumping but drafting business plans makes your blood turn cold, it might be a good idea to focus on those areas of writing in which you’re most interested. By figuring out what you actually enjoy working on, you can start to establish areas of specialization. You may also decide to pull services that didn’t bring in any business, had you nodding off in boredom, or simply didn’t pay well.

Sales and Marketing

How did you market yourself in 2007? Do you have a web site? A blog? Did you post ads on Craig’s List and wait for customers to come to you, or did you reach out to your customers by sending them marketing materials? Maybe you rely on networking and word of mouth. Whatever your marketing strategy has been, now is the perfect time to figure which of your marketing efforts brought in the business.

If you’re a freelance writer who relies on submissions, then now is also the time to figure out which publications were a good fit for you over the last year. Some editors are prompt when it comes to letting you know if your work has been accepted, and others never respond at all. One publication might pay a penny per word, while another pays as high as a dollar. These factors can help you determine where your time and energy were well spent in 2007.

Operations and Process Flow

It’s wise to have an established work process. I usually ask my clients to provide me with some basic information about their business and writing projects. Then, I send them a quote for services. Whenever possible, I give them some options by offering basic, plus, and deluxe packages. If they sign off on the quote, we are both contracted to the work agreement and the project commences. I find that having this process in place helps both me and my customers in staying organized and having a very clear and detailed understanding of each other’s expectations. Do you have a process in place?

This is also the time to examine your backup plans and the ways you deal with unexpected interruptions. If you missed a deadline this year, you probably learned a lesson about the value of a backup plan. What did you do when you got sick, or were called out of town on an emergency? How do you handle your clients when they miss their deadlines or payment due dates? What do you do when one finicky customer asks for revision after revision, until your fees no longer warrant the project? By examining these and other unexpected bumps in the road, you’ll be better equipped to formulate contingency plans for 2008.

Organization

Organization is critical for freelancers who are running the whole show - developing products and services, marketing and selling their goods, managing paperwork, reports, and other administrative tasks, plus doing all the actual work. How well organized are all of these aspects of your business? Did you lose or misplace any receipts this year? Were you able to accurately track your income versus your expenses? Do you know where your clients are coming from? And were all of your projects easy to navigate, or did you lose files and misplace important e-mails? Pinpoint the areas that caused you trouble so that you can eliminate such problems in the future by being better organized.

Income and Rates

How do you set your rates? This area of business is often a struggle for freelancers who stare at client inquiries wondering how much should I charge? How much are they willing pay? What is this worth? Many freelance writers charge by the word. Others charge by the hour. Most have a base rate, which can be tweaked to align with the amount of work that will be involved for each project.

If potential customers walked away from you this year because your rates were too high, maybe it’s time to look at some ways to make your fees more cost effective. Did you offer any discounts or a referral program? On the flip side, if your rates were too low, customers are just as likely to be repelled because they’ll conclude that your work must be as low in value as your fees. Ask yourself if your rates are competitive, and if you haven’t done your market research, now is the time!

More importantly, are you earning a living wage? Everyone wants more money, but at the very least, you should be able to cover your own basic living expenses. If you’ve been freelancing for awhile and still can’t manage to pay all your bills, then it’s time for a serious overhaul. If you’ve got money piling up in dusty corners of your office, then you’re probably doing just fine. Ultimately, what you want to establish at the end of the year is whether you are in the red or in the black.

Expenses

Did you track your expenses? Save your receipts? The fiscal year is winding down, and it’s time make sure you have all your tax paperwork in order. In reviewing your expenses, determine what items had a lot of mileage and what you could have done without. Did you buy a fancy new PDA so you could communicate with clients and work on the go, but then rarely used it because you spent most of your time in your home office anyway? What about that expensive style guide you almost didn’t buy, but ended up referring to on a daily basis? As with everything else, reviewing your expenses to figure out which purchases were valuable and which were wasteful will help you make better decisions in the coming year.

Don’t Be Too Hard on Yourself

In the end, the annual review should be a priceless learning experience. After all, who wants to make the same mistakes next year? Don’t torture yourself over bad decisions or poor judgment. What’s done is done, so move forward knowing that you are one year wiser.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Next Page »