Welcome to Donetta's World

I have spent the last couple of days down with the flu. It gave me time to reflect about my writing. Publishing "Darla's Decision" has brought me a new experience. The responses have been very positive. I received a compliment on facebook. One of my old classmates stated that he was proud of me and that our old English teacher would have been proud too. I thought that was a fun comment.
    It made me reflect on my writing and the GREAT teachers that I had. English was my strong point through out school. I did well and feel confidant in my education in writing skills thanks to them. BUT! There are parts of my story that do not follow perfect grammar rules. Why? Because I used punctuation to pause thoughts, to emphasize the emotion. Lots of comma splices, run on sentences and incomplete sentences. When I was working with my publishers I asked about further editing. They said that traditional editing is no more. That each author uses incorrect spelling and grammar to make their story unique--to put across emotions that would not be allowed in a "proper English class" or in traditional editing.
     The other thing I discovered is there are Grammar rules that have changed since I sat in an English class. I love to read and lately I have been finding other writers using punctuation differently. I finally called my youngest sister who has her masters, who ended her classroom time more recently then mine. I called her asking for her opinion on one issue that I kept coming across and her answer was "Depends on how it is used". WHAT? OH! NO! Well, all is well. Any mistakes can now be called "Creative license"! HA HA!
     I do admit, though, there are a couple of misspelled words or a missing word, such as 'at'. After countless rereads and editing sessions with 7 other adults, my eleven year old found a mistake right on the first page--after the book was printed! What can I say? I did a great job in homeschooling my child!
     I have been following the blogs and facebook time of a couple of seasoned authors I know. They were laughing over the longest sentence they had written...with and without commas...breaking all the rules. Well, I say! If the pros can do it--so can I! HA HA! SO to those who find my writing wanting in the "proper English" department. I say "to each his own". Read it for the story and put down your red grading pencils--I ain't in english class no more! :)
     I love my story! I love writing and have more coming. I am sure the more I do--the better my attempts will become. I thank all of you for your support and good words that you send my way.