It's my Birff-day

...Though I have a hard time believing it. Really. There's been so much crazy going on, on so many different levels. I haven't blogged much lately. Haven't used Twitter, either, but if you've been following the "news," you'll know that Twitter kills.

Anyway.

I got up this morning and checked my facebook page.

And realized that over the last year, my life has changed.

I discovered Greek yogurt. I got hooked on green tea. I found the perfect mascara. I learned to drive a car with cruise control. I got back on the sewing wagon. I figured out how to sift powdered sugar. I rediscovered the color yellow. I cut my hair short, as short (if not shorter) than it was in college. I watched my husband graduate with a masters degree. I made my first roux. I sang along with Glee.

I published a book. I can't tell you how many years I blew out my candles, wishing for a contract, wishing to publish a novel.

Plain Jayne came out in January. Sara will be out shortly. Over the last year, I've experienced my first release, first review in Publishers Weekly, first booksignings, first radio interview...

Because of the book, I've gotten to meet wonderful readers online, women who I'd never be able to connect with otherwise. It's crazy. It's humbling.

And I have no idea what next year will bring. But if there's something better than Greek yogurt out there, I'm ready.

Grammar Matters

With the rise of facebook, twitter, and blogging I read a lot of...unedited prose. And I'm good with that, most of the time. There are several blogs I love to follow, several people I'm perpetually amused by.

I just want to change their grammar.

So to take a break from the monotony of "No, I'm not contagious but I still have a concerning-sounding cough"-type prose, I thought I'd take a minute to share my top 10 (or so) grammatical beefs.

1. Your vs. You're. Drives. Me. Crazy. I see it much more often than I should. Whenever you're writing either, take a moment to say, "can this sentence be said properly if I say 'you are'." Because if it can, you may need to make a change.

2. Yay/Yea/Yeah/Ya confusion. This one's a biggie, so we'll take a minute to define each one.

Yay: Interchangeable with "Hooray." A spoken/written cheer.

Yea: A sign of affirmation. "Yea" is the opposite of "nay."

Yeah: informal form of "yes." While not a cheer, is often more emphatic than yes (oh, yeah!)

Ya: even more informal form of "yes." I would discourage this one.

3. Their/There/They're. An oldy but goody. I see less of this one than the your/you're issue. Maybe that's a sign of progress.

4. O/Oh confusion. It happens. "O" on its lonesome can be short for "of," as in, "bowl o' goodness," when telling time (four o' clock), or when praising God (O Magnify the Lord). "Oh," on the other hand, (according to the Encarta Dictionary) is used to express or introduce a strong emotion or response, used to show thought, or attract attention.

5. Its/It's. Another oldy but goody. Again, see it less than #1. Or maybe it just bothers me less.

6. Farther/Further. Farther is distance. 'Cause it starts with "far." Further deals with non-physical things: "Push the concept further, see where it will take you."

7. Non-plussed. Pronounced "Non-pluhst." Means baffled. Most people think it means unfazed. They're wrong.

8. Texting language. You've seen in. Ur instead of your. R instead of are. There is no reason for this. Because a.) you should be able to spell all of these words correctly, having exited from grade school, and b.) the shorted forms arose from lazy texters, but now we have smarter texting functions on cell phones (have for a few years now), so go ahead. Splurge. Spell the whole word. I dare you.

9. Than/Then. Than is used in comparison (fall is wetter than winter). Then is not. Got it?

10. Gender-neutral pronoun issues. This one's a bit trickier to explain, but we've all seen it. "If your volunteer is late, sometimes you need to show them grace." Okay...there's only one volunteer. The trouble with English is that we don't have a proper singular gender-neutral pronoun. If you try to say "it," it makes your volunteer sound somehow inhuman. Writing he/she, him/her is too cluttered. Just pick a gender. You may appear sexist depending on which pronoun you choose, but at least you'll be accurate.

Okay. There are other problems out there, but these are the ones that bug me most when it comes to grammar.

Here's the thing. The internet's big, people. You write something, and most likely, more people will see it than you think. So go ahead. Make a good impression. Spell things correctly. Most browsers these days have automatic spell checkers. If you see the red squiggly line, consider it a sign of a problem, not a decoration. Write things correctly. You never know when it might be useful to look like you know what you're doing.

Coming at some point in the future: Words I hate, words I love. I've been working on that post for a LONG time. This may come as a surprise, but I have strong feelings about certain words...and words in general.

Back in the Land of the Living

...though Danny's down for the count, fever and all. Not good. October's flying by, and partially because time flies when you're blowing your nose.

Some updates:

1. This bulleted format's really working for me these days. Helps me stay organized.

2. The Superhero Symposium - only missed one panel discussion, due to the fact that I really, really liked the idea of a nap on Saturday afternoon (I've been napping a lot, lately). The Symposium, overall, was helpful, but less about Superheroes than about Superheroes in comic books. Now, I'm fairly indifferent to comic books. Not my thing. I was impressed by some of David Mack's work that was shown, which was far more progressively artistic than the pen & ink drawings we associate with the genre. A lot of comic books reminds me of Kabuki theater - heightened expression and emotion. Not so much with the realism, but David Mack's work is more...still. More organic than most, which is probably why I liked it.

For those who are wondering why I'm interested in a Superhero Symposium anyway - I'd like to write a Superhero book. Not sure when. But I came up with a really great concept a while ago, and I've been slowly mulling it over since. I love The Incredibles and appreciated Watchmen; I liked that both pieces took the idea of the superhero and pushed the concept a bit further.

So we'll see what happens. Even though the conference wasn't quite what I wanted it to be about, it was still good for me to get a feel for that particular audience and the history of that medium. I'll probably anger fewer people, knowing what I know now.

3. I met with the fantastic Harvest Marketing team last week; they convinced me to join Twitter. I know. Shocker. But as long as I think of it as "micro-blogging", things are good. Actually, especially good since I commented (or replied? still working it out) to one of Hester Browne's posts (Hester Browne, author of the delightful Little Lady Agency books), and she totally replied back!

For those of you who follow this blog on Blogspot rather than facebook, none of this is a huge surprise, since I now have the fetching Twitter utility thing on the page, cataloging my every "tweet." (Seriously? "Tweet"? Let's go with "Micro-blog". Honestly).

Feel free to follow. Content thus far is different from my facebook status updates. At some point I may run a "follow on Twitter, win a book" contest. Since I don't have books yet, it's still in the future, though.

4. Just had a very successful trip to TJ Maxx. Super long BCBG gray slacks - yes! Herb-scented neck warmer - yes! Cashmere hoodie - yes! All ridiculously cheap - YES!! Especially excited about the pants. I've been looking for a while...good things come to those who wait. And know where to look.

5. I really am going to start making that skirt for Simply Sara. Especially since she's going to start sewing soon, and I have no idea how the thing's going together. Did I blog about her skirt earlier? I can't remember. If I didn't, I'm making a green wool pencil skirt that will figure into the book, and educate me all at the same time. The fact that it will go with my black tall boots is a side benefit.

6. The new Swell Season CD released yesterday, picked it up at Starbucks this afternoon (one of my increasingly frequent hot-water-only trips). Really enjoying it!

Running out of steam. In all honesty, while I feel better overall, my throat is killing me. But I have gray pants and homemade macaroni in the fridge, so life is good.