A Dash of Dashes

Dash: Three types of dashes vary in length. Figure dash (-), or hyphen, joins words or separates syllables. En-dash (–), or minus sign, indicates a range or a connecting relationship. Em-dash (—), or double dash, indicates an interruption, such as a parenthetical thought or sentence cut short.

Slash: Used to emphasize a connecting relationship in place of an en-dash.

Parenthesis: Indicates an interruption in the flow of a sentence, though this is becoming an antiquated punctuation as em-dashes or commas are more often used.

While em-dashes are being used more and more in writing, figure dashes are not used often enough. When two modifiers are equally necessary for clarification, they should be joined by a figure dash. For instance, you see "health care reform" or "healthcare reform" used in newspapers and government reports, but technically "health-care reform" is the appropriate structure. However, this does not hold true with adverbs that end in -ly, i.e. you can say either "commonly used words" or "common-used words" but not "commonly-used words." While Figure dashes are used for compound words like "co-author" or "baby-sitter," if you use a compound word in connection with another modifier, you should use an en-dash to connect the modifiers, such as "multi-award–winning artist."

You can find a great example of the appropriate use of all three dashes in the first paragraph of Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz:

"The Bank was a decrepit stone building at the tail end of Houston Street, on the last divide between the gritty East Village and the wolds of the Lower East Side. Once the headquarters of the venerable Van Alen investment and brokerage house, it was an imposing, squat presence, a paradigm of the beuax-arts style, with a classic six-column facade and an intimidating row of 'dentals'—razor-sharp serrations on the pediment's surface. For many years it stood on the corner of Houston and Essex, desolate, empty, and abandoned, until one winter evening when an eye-patch–wearing nightclub promoter chanced upon it after polishing off a hot dog at Katz's Deli. He was looking for a venue to showcase the new music his DJs were spinning—a dark, haunted sound they were calling 'Trance.'"

Getting Possessive about Pronouns

His • Hers • Its • Yours • Mine • Ours • Theirs • Whose

When using a possessive pronoun, there's no need to use an apostrophe. Because of the title of my blog, I see this mistake often. Not that I'm judging--when I'm typing too fast and not paying attention, I often type "me" instead of "my," and I still have to stop and think every time I use who/whom.

So to help me with grammar and usage, there are a few books I always keep on hand:

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: I'm particularly fond of this dictionary as it's specific to American English, is updated often, gives detailed word origins and has plenty of usage variations.

The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law: I have a journalism background, so the AP Stylebook is my constant companion. Some of the rules might seem strange at first, but once you begin to understand that media writing is all about getting to the point in the most direct way, it will become second nature.

MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers: Lucky for me, I also have a strong background in academic writing. I learned to love this book and its straightforward guidelines for writing. It's also the best resource for citations ever written.

The Chicago Manual of Style: With not much experience in technical writing, I probably use this one the least often. But with the influx of web-based publishing, this book will become more and more important to professional writers.

When Words Collide: A Media Writer's Guide to Grammar and Style by Lauren Kessler: I don't know what to say about this book other than it's brilliant.

The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White: This is the definitive grammar and style reference book for journalists. Everything I know about writing for papers I learned from Strunk and White. And thanks to this amazing book I read by White as a kid (Charlotte's Web anyone?) I tend to trust them for my fiction writing as well.

Plain English Handbook by Martyn J. Walsh: I know I'm kicking it old school with this one, but I haven't found another grammar books that is so practical, well organized and easy to understand. This book saved me more times than I can count during high school and college English classes.

Don't depend on Wikipedia to answer all of your grammatical questions--it might help when you're in a bind, but it's not always accurate and clear. Keep in mind that grammar and style rules are constantly changing, so update your reference books often. While sentimental attachment comforts the soul, it won't do much for your writing.

Friday Five: The Best Things in Life Are Free

Between now and the end of October, this is the only weekend I have completely to myself. Don't get me wrong, I'm way excited to take my best friend to Chicago for the first time, I'm proud of my role in planning the Virgina Day of Service, I can't wait for the National Book Festival followed by Banned Book Week, and I love helping with the SCBWI Mid-Atlantic Fall Conference. But sometimes it's nice to spend a quiet weekend at home.

1. Read The Gray Wolf Throne by Cinda Williams Chima: I was planning on purchasing this book the day it came out, but I'm still hoping to catch one of Cinda's book signings. Instead, I had to wait until the library processed it and transferred it to my pick-up center. Then there was the rain. Oh, the rain! I was finally able to dash out for a late lunch and pick it up. Then it proceeded to taunt me from the corner of my desk for the remained of the day.


2. Fold laundry: I know there's nothing overly exotic about doing chores, but my cluttered house is driving me nuts! When my clean clothes are all put away and my floor is vacuumed, my house will be home once again. A friend of mine is also heading to her hometown of Bastrop, Texas, next weekend with a Uhaul of donations for her family's community that have been displaced by the wildfires. This will provide me with the opportunity get together some linens I no longer use and give them to a family in need.


3. Sleep, blessed sleep: I'm going to take a nap this weekend. I don't know when or for how long, but I'm going to make it happen. And because I have no other plans, I'm going to bed early. And sleeping in. And totally ignoring any phone calls, emails and text between the hours of 10 p.m. and 10 a.m., so don't even bother.


4. Walk in the rain: I know I just talked about dashing out during a lull in the rain to pick up my book, but it's different when you're in business attire and responsible for the well-being of library property. There's been a ton of rain in this area, and I want to go out and survey the water level of the creek at the end of my block. I want to enjoy the smell of damp earth washed clean by rain. And I want to be outside after sitting at my desk all week long, no matter what the weather conditions.


5. Listen to an audiobook: It's been forever since I've finished a new audiobook! I'm not sure which one I'm going to listen to yet, but whatever it is, I'll enjoy hearing it while I vacuum my living room and fold my laundry and walk in the rain and laze in bed.

Why am I still typing? I have a weekend to get to!

Lions and Tigers and Baseball, Oh My

Holidays in Washington, DC, are the best. Seriously. There are always things to do and people visiting. The city gets this zap of energy that makes everything seem much more alive. Have I mentioned I love holidays? And living in DC?

This year, my friend's sister Katy came to visit. And since I love both Katy and baseball, they invited me to a game. Of course we were in the nosebleed seats, but it's not important where you sit at a ballgame...

...it's what you eat. And eat we did. Nachos and hot dogs, funnel cake and custard. A Shake Shack opened at the ballpark this season, and while I LOVE their food (especially their shakes), it just doesn't taste the same when it's not in NYC. But that won't stop me from getting Shake Shack when I go to the game this Friday.

We also had some friends visiting form North Carolina. Annie and Tim are some of my favorite people in the world, and their baby Maddie isn't so bad either. I haven't been to the National Zoo in about eight years, so that's where we spent our entire Saturday.

Despite the rain, we got to see pretty much everything. The pandas were being lazy and slept through our entire visit. The apes were being cliche and eating bananas. A friendly monkey came out to greet us from a branch right above our heads. The cheetahs and clouded leopard were a bit difficult to spot until their, well, spots gave them away. And the sloth bear...let's just say he wasn't very polite.

Best of all, the lion was going crazy—we think it was time for his lunch. There was a huge crowd gathered around, but you can still hear him loud and clear.

While Maddie loved it all, she was totally fascinated by the fish. We could have spent the entire day by the tanks and she would have been content watching them. Next time they visit, we'll make sure to hit the aquarium.

It was such a great holiday weekend. And while our apartment it much quieter without a 15-month-old baby and my stomach is begging me never to feed it like that again, I already miss the holiday crowd. Good thing I still have Columbus Day and Halloween and Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving and my birthday and Christmas and New Year's Eve before it all starts over again next year.

SCBWI Mid-Atlantic Conference Professional Panels

Just in case you aren't excited enough about this year's SCBWI Mid-Atlantic Fall Conference, check out the publishing professionals we've got lined up.

Agents Panel: Behind the Scenes at a Literary Agency
Jennifer Rofé is an agent with the Andrea Brown Agency where she handles children’s fiction projects. Some of her clients include Laurie David, Cambria Gordon, Crystal Allen, Kathryn Fitzmaurice, Denise Doyen, Cynthea Liu, Barry Wolverton and Lauren Strasnick. She is also the co-author of the picture book Piggies in the Pumpkin Patch. Jennifer earned a BA in English from UC Davis.

Quinlan Lee has been in the children’s publishing industry for the past ten years as both a writer and an agent. She is currently an agent with Adams Literary. She has published over thirty books, including licensed projects for Clifford’s Puppy Days, Dora the Explorer and the Planet Earth series. A graduate of Tulane University in New Orleans, Quinlan is a member of SCBWI and a founding board member of the Women’s National Book Association chapter in Charlotte, NC.

Editors Panel: Inside Publishing Today
Chelsea Eberly is an assistant editor with Random House Books for Young Readers. An alum of the Columbia Publishing Course, she is the editor of The Project by Brian Falkner, the Fairy Godmother Academy series by Jan Bozarth and It’s Milking Time by Phyllis Alsdurf. She also edits the paperback line of the Magic Tree House series and is working on the graphic novel adaptation of Tamora Pierce’s First Test.

Caroline Abbey is an editor at Bloomsbury where her current projects include Melissa Walker’s Small Town Sinners, The A Circuit by Georgina Bloomberg, Catherine Hapka, Villain School: Good Curses Evil by Stephanie S. Sanders and the middle grade mythology-inspired Pandora series by Carolyn Hennesy. Caroline also manages the Bloomsbury paperback list. She was previously with Simon Pulse.

Abby Ranger is an editor at Disney-Hyperion Books. She has worked with Cinda Williams Chima, Melissa Kantor, Katie Alender, and newcomers like Victoria Schwab and Kiera Stewart. She was born in Colorado, grew up in British Columbia and now lives in Brooklyn.

Ellen Braaf (moderator), columnist and feature writer for ASK magazine, has published fiction, nonfiction, and humor for children and adults. Her six-book Science Detectives series, written under the name Ellen René, was published by PowerKids Press. Ellen teaches for The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, MD, and serves as SCBWI Mid-Atlantic Regional Advisor.

So join us Oct. 22 at the Holiday Inn Dulles in Sterling, Virginia. It will be an event you don't want to miss!

If you haven't gotten the information in the mail, here's a link to the registration form and another for the full conference flyer. If you would like to post the widget for the conference on your blog or website, let me know and I'll email you the html code.

Find out more about the conference's featured speakers here. You can also see what local authors will be at the conference here.