Judy Hagey Editor

Write Justified

writing tips

Beware the Zombies

I’m supposed to be writing a review of Steven Pinker’s Sense and Style, but like the student who waited until the last minute to read the book, I’m not in a position to write a full review—yet. With Halloween on the horizon, and Pinker’s reference to zombie nouns, I thought a blog on those might be more apropos than trying to bluff my way through a full book review. I am not a fan of horror films or literature (with the exception of Stephen King), so my knowledge of zombies is limited. Suffice to say that for our purposes the …

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When You Need an Editor

At first glance, the similarities between doctors and editors may be difficult to imagine. While editing may not have quite the number of specialties as the medical profession, it is no more a one size fits all profession than doctoring is. You may have a general practitioner for annual checkups, but when you break a bone, you’ll be referred to an orthopedic doctor. Sustain a heart attack and you’ll see a cardiologist. Likewise, it’s important to know that editor is an umbrella term that encompasses as many as five to seven “specialties.”  Before we delve into them, however, I want …

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Creativity is Passion–Not Perfection

Love Letters to Writers: Encouragement, Accountability, and Truth-telling One benefit of being furloughed from my part-time day job in response to CoVID-19 is the time it’s given me to read. When I committed to the Goodreads Challenge at the outset of 2020 after a year’s hiatus, I not only set a goal of reading 50 books this year, but I also committed to finishing all the unfinished books on my Kindle. It’s much easier for me to give up on a book I’m not crazy about if it’s on Kindle because I figure it will always be there if my …

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The Secret to Getting Published

When Diane Holmes’s grandmother divulged the untold story of her mother—a secret she’d kept from adolescence to her death bed—Diane took on the mantel of family historian and storyteller. While her grandmother’s story caused a sensation within the family, Diane saw more in her grandmother’s life—courage and resilience in the face of difficulty and loss. It has taken nearly 75 years for Grandma Bernadine’s story to reach the written page, and that is a narrative in itself. While Diane mulled the account of her grandmother’s life from her own adolescence, a 2014 New Years resolution propelled her to finally put …

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More Arcane Grammar

Fused Participles Participle fusion, much like thermonuclear fusion, is a subject too widely dreaded to be approached lightly. ~ William Safire If you don’t know what a fused participle is, you can chalk it up to one of those grammar “rules” that really isn’t. Like: Never split an infinitive. Never end a sentence with a preposition. Never start a sentence with a conjunction. Back in the day, 1906 to be exact, Henry Fowler decided that sentences like the following are grammatically incorrect.               He approved of Robert taking the job.               Do you mind me asking a question?               The neighbors hated …

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Grammar Arcana–Part 2

  Hortatory Subjunctive If you’ve never heard the term and, therefore, think you have no idea what hortatory subjunctive refers to, you’re not alone. If, however, you’re of the generation that took Latin in high school (I’m of the generation, but not the course), you may at least recognize hortatory as Latin. And though the grammatical term may not be familiar, you’ll recognize its application. Hortatory is one of three Latin words that means encourage or incite. Subjunctive refers to the mood, which is not unique to Latin grammar. In addition to tense, verbs also indicate mood — “the manner …

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Grammar Aracana – Part 1

Or Grammar Tips You’ve Never Heard of But Use Anyway… One benefit of the global pandemic and shelter-in-place directives is greater access to online content. Before Zoom fatigue set in (about a month ago), I took advantage of several sessions that the Association of Copy Editors (ACES) offered in lieu of their annual conference. I couldn’t resist signing up for Grammar Arcana for its promise to cover Reduced Relative Clauses, Hortatory Subjunctives, Fused Participles, Double Genitives, Ditransitive Verbs, Nominative Absolutes, and Ablaut Reduplication. WHAT? I call myself an editor and I’ve never heard of these terms. What kind of imposter …

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Book Challenge

If you spend any time on Facebook, you've likely seen the Book Challenge. For seven days, participants are invited to post the image of a book they've loved -- one each day without comment -- and then challenge someone else to do the same. The premise behind the challenge is to promote literacy and build a book list. For me the challenge was not commenting because how can you not comment on books you've loved? So, permit me to share those seven books here with comments.

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