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Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The ultimate meaning of life is to embrace that which compels you to act in spite of fear.

Friday, December 30, 2005

Reads, Blogs & Leaves

I used my Chapters Indigo gift certificate to buy some books. There is something exciting about purchasing a crisp new book. And it only seemed proper that I should obtain a fresh copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves by British journalist and writer Lynne Truss.

She is a stickler, after all.

You may've heard about this book. It's Truss's (I hope I got that right!) attack on the growing misuse of punctuation. And it's her battle cry to "sticklers" - those who are punctilious about apostrophes, commas, semicolons, etc. It's also a highly entertaining journey into the history of punctuation and a vehement denunciation of the rise of illiteracy in England.

My own writing is not flawless. I'm afraid I do not possess that Mozart-like ability to craft a perfect piece in one go. Particularly when it comes to the small details, which I admit ARE very important. Suffice it say, I'm so glad there are editors and other sticklers out there. They help me sleep at night. Though I catch most of my mistakes, I do count on others for final edits. I rely on the eyes and minds of those strange and vigilant creatures known as copyeditors. They would rather die than fail to detect an error. They are the beat cops of literacy, making sure our words behave properly in society.

Which doesn't mean I'm off the hook. It behooves me to clean up my own messes. I am accountable. And so I apologize if you find any mistakes in this post. I would like to say it's just a damn blog post and I have my life to live; but I'm afraid Lynne Truss will hunt me down, box my ears, and tell me all copy is important and smarten up!

So if your faillible lik me, or you're writing could use tuching up because its ripe with errers, than I suggest you give Truss' book a reed. Youll be glad you di'd.

And if the last sentence angered the crap out of you then pick up Truss's book and join the worldwide legion of sticklers.

4 Comments:

Blogger Joe Mahoney said...

I read her book and enjoyed it. She was in for an interview a while back and I gave her a tour of our drama facilities... she's written several radio plays for the BBC. A real nice lady (and she didn't correct my grammar once!)

9:51 AM  
Blogger oakwriter said...

Haha. I remember that interview. She was promoting her new book about bad manners and atrocious behaviour in our society. Yes, she sounds nice, considerate, and funny. (Hey, look at that Oxford comma go!)

10:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

lol... gotcha.

1:04 PM  
Blogger oakwriter said...

Hello there, Just Thinking! Thanks for dropping by. :-)

8:17 PM  

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