Grammar Rant

I go off on these every so often. This blog has been spared before, but not today.

Today’s rant:

Compose/comprise

Let’s review. Comprise means to “to contain, consist of”; compose means “to make up.” The parts compose (make up) the whole; the whole comprises (contains) the parts; the whole is composed of (NOT: is comprised of) the parts.

The parent corporation comprises (consists of) three major divisions.
Three major divisions compose (make up) the parent corporation.

Whew. I feel better. Authors, this is missed by so many writers and editors. If you get it right in your writing, you go up a notch or three in my book.

Hiatus and Happy Summer!

Back from a too-long hiatus. In my freelance world, life’s been churning a bit too quickly for me to keep up with everything. I’ve been absolutely buried with editing projects: huge 5,000-page books full of medical jargon and way too many references to check. I think I’m worn out. What Have I Been Up To?

I’m about ready to submit my novel, find a new agent, polish a non-fiction book proposal . . . oh, that’s right, we’ve still got some steps in our Writing A Book series, don’t we? Well, stay tuned for that. I’ve been using Eric Maisel’s The Art of the Book Proposal by Eric Maiseland it is excellent. Highly recommend.

I am also jumping back into magazine writing, thanks to encouragement from the writers I’ve met in my stellar freelance group, Freelance Success. Although I’m just an editor in the midst of some very talented writers, I am learning.

Speaking of fabulous writers, check out my friend, Allison Winn Scotch’s blog, Ask Allison, for a very interesting series on her first novel sale. Also she’s promised a nice series on writing for magazines. I will be tuned in. See you there!