writing life – Page 82

When you’re not feeling it

I wasn’t feeling the whole writing vibe this morning. But I pressed on.

Sometimes, it’s just hard to write.

This morning was one of those mornings. It began with my standard morning journaling routine, notebook open and pen in hand. I wrote a single-sentence paragraph describing a mundane task ahead of me for the days, and thought, This is it. This is all I’ve got today.

That exclamation point!

Some see the ! as the comic sans of the punctuation world, a clownish affront to all who take their writing and reading seriously.

When I decided to rename this blog Andy writes! to signify its new direction, I’m sure a few readers cringed at the sight of an exclamation point in the title.

I understand. For writers, the exclamation point (hereinafter referred to as “!”) is perhaps the most maligned and most offensive of all punctuation marks. In his book Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, Benjamin Dreyer calls the ! “bossy, hectoring, and, ultimately, wearying.” In her Grammar Girl Style Guide, Mignon Fogarty, without passing judgment, advises, “Don’t overuse them.” The late Elmore Leonard, a prolific and best-selling crime novelist, laid down the law on the ! in his 10 rules for writing: “You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.”