Jargon rears its ugly head ...

... but it's funny. One of my henchmen recently ran across a site that touts its new software as very useful for "backupping." Oh, come on. There's a perfectly good phrase--backing up--that has served several generations of technology users. What's the point of a word like "backupping"? It's ugly, doesn't work, and makes the perpetrator of the phrase look silly.

Another of my spies has found a perfectly lovely misplaced modifier that made me laugh:

"His last billed part was in 1956, though he appeared in an uncredited bit part after his death." I'll bet his performance was a little stiff, though.

I found another in a publication I'd been asked to work on:

"This set of instructional materials is very useful for teachers with children." But what about childless teachers? Might they find the materials helpful in their classrooms, too?

These are cute little object lessons that illuminate a bigger point. In careful speaking and writing, the details matter. Really. Read. And then read again.

Web site up

My new Web site, www.midwestbookdocs. is finally up. I haven't optimized it yet, and there's lots of work to do, but it's out there, and if you want to find out what we do at Midwest Book Doctors or get in touch with us, this is the place to go for all the information.

I built the Web site with products from Go Daddy (www.godaddy.com.) The process was very easy and relatively quick. Most of my time was spent troubleshooting my own mistakes, not bugs of any kind. If you can't or won't pay a Web designer and you don't need many bells and whistles, this is a great alternative.

Recently, I've seen an uptick in mistakes in the word pair respectfully/respectively. Let's straighten it out. Respectfully means "with respect," while respectively means "in the order mentioned."

For example, "I took English 101, 102, and 103, with Professors Jones, Smith, and Brown respectively. " And, "All members of the staff should treat one another respectfully."

I'm in the process of proposing another book. I'll let you know where it leads.

A friend's success

About three years ago, I met a very nice woman at a writers' conference and we fell into conversation about the novel she was working on. I read the first chapter and liked what I saw.

Now that novel has been published, and I was able to pick up a copy lately. It's called Wish Club. The author is Kim Strickland. I recommend it to you. What a treat when someone you know succeeds at such a tough thing! And Kim really has. Go buy it and find out what happens to Jill and Mara and Claudia and the other members of their book club. You'll have a fine time. I guarantee it.

The upsides of writing a book

Yesterday my Google alert let me know that there was a nice mention of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Difficult Conversations http://us.penguingroup.com/ in a blog called 3rd Eye http://3deye.blogspot.com. It was nice to read that the writer of the blog had used the book three times in two weeks to prepare for conversations--and that it had apparently been useful.

Later in the week, two media opportunities came across my desk, and I'll be taking advantage of those. Then two speaking opportunties. I'm expecting a workshop to happen in the winter as well. All related to the Idiot's Guide.

Which points up something about a writing career--and that's the fact that it is a career. Some wonderfully successful writers don't tour, don't speak very often, and don't do many interviews. Their lives go on smoothly without their promoting themselves. A Grisham can spend his time writing, and his books will sell, but most of the rest of us have to toggle between writing and promotional activities, and if we shy away from that aspect of our careers, our books don't sell very well. That makes publishers less likely to take a chance on us again.

You can't count on the publishing house to make you a star, although some of the smaller houses do a wonderful job of promoting their authors, especially within specific niches. The subject matter expert for one of the books I wrote is beginning to do a lot of keynote speaking in her area of expertise at state and national gatherings, and most of those engagements have been dreamed up and promoted by the small independent house who published us. Another author I know who was published by a relatively smaller press has been promoted extensively by the house, and it has paid off brilliantly.

The author of one of my book doctoring projects is self-publishing, but he wants to see sales, so he has engaged a very fine publicist--and that author is going to get out there.

So should you. If you're considering becoming a writer, think of the totality of the career and make time for it. As I've said before, mastering the craft is the most important thing you can do, but don't forget the rest.

Welcome back

I knew I'd been away for a while, but it's been longer than I thought. I've been working on a book concept of my own and helping another author to finish a book he's been refining for nearly four years. The finish line is in sight! And since I have a day job, too, it's been a busy time.

During the time I've not been blogging, some people have sent me a few items I thought were funny or interesting.

1) A former business partner shared a media release that indicated a company's business was growing by "leaps and bounce." It's an interesting picture, but of course, what he meant was leaps and bounds. It like the expression for "for all intensive purposes." Funny to some, annoying to others.

2) Another friend pointed out that we don't buy things on the Internet. We buy things on the World Wide Web. The Internet is the architecture and the Web uses that infrastructure for commercial purposes. A distinction worth preserving.

3) And please, please, can we drop the expression "honed in"? To hone is to sharpen, as in "honing her skills." But to close in on a target, which is what most people mean when they say honed in, should properly be "homed in." It's related to homing devices and other things that guide people toward specific locations. Have you ever heard of a "honing pigeon"? Didn't think so, but the misuse of honed in is becoming overwhelming, and it's one of those things that isn't a result of language change or stylistic preference. It's just wrong.

The perils of the English blog

So people tell me they read this blog because it helps them learn about writing and how to use English with greater precision. And then I write, as I did in the last post, about making a "statment." Which proves only that everyone, without exception, needs an editor. Sigh....

The First Amendment v. obnoxious

The Kathy Griffin statement at the Emmys has certainly stirred up a hornets' nest. Because millions of Americans have died for her right to say whatever she darn pleases, I have to defend the First Amendment here. However, was it offensive to hundreds of thousands of people? Of course. Was it offensive to me? Yes. But she's been offensive before, and in fact, that's been her stock in trade. Why should anyone be surprised? Her act has always been foul-mouthed, and sometimes she goes over the edge. In my opinion, this particular speech was way past the edge. It was tasteless, uncivil, rude, uncouth, vulgar, and loutish. And I think it probably hurt some of her other causes.

It seems disingenous to me for a bemused Kathy to ask if she's the only Catholic left with a sense of humor. She had to know that her statment would create a firestorm. She's a writer. She knows the power of words.

But will I demand that she be muzzled, thrown off the air, ridden out of town, and forced to make a public apology because she said something that was personally repugnant to me? Nope. If I find her speech offensive, I don't have to listen to it. My TV can be turned off as well as on. America is still the land of the free, and that's good for all of us. Let's not make Kathy Griffin our very own Salman Rushdie.