Jessica Russell's Blog - Posts Tagged "punctuation"

There is an amazing number of posts everywhere you look concerning all sorts of "critical" do's and don'ts that will supposedly make or break a new author. Here is the actual truth: SOME things literally only matter to editors. I have nothing against editors, they're doing their job. However, the Oxford comma, opening a chapter with weather, using "smiling" words or sneaking in a split infinitive are not things that any reader anywhere, to the best of my knowledge, has EVER cared about. Proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation are important. Beyond that, there's no reason to drive yourself crazy with all kinds of nitpicky nonsense because you're convinced that the "experts" will find flaws in your writing. All books need editing and proofreading, but ultimately, you are not selling your book to editors, you're selling it to READERS. And readers don't care about the Oxford comma. Readers care whether or not the darn story is any good. Focus on weaving a good tale and when it comes to whether or not to use a semicolon, take a nice deep breath, flip a coin, and keep writing. :)