Writer's Aid discussion

Yesterday I received a message from a moderator on another group which started with the word 'So......'
I hear people on the BBC starting sentences with 'So' but this is the first time I have come across it in the written word. Is it now acceptable?
I now live in a non anglophone enviroment , so I may be a bit out of touch.

I often use it, too. I haven't received any negative comments on using it, and have seen others use it as well. So, I don't think it is unacceptable, although you can look around and enquire more about this if you aren't convinced.

Good morning Hallie,
thanks for your thoughts on the use of So at the beginning of a sentence.
It may sound like a trivial point, but for me it is quite relevant because when writing I like to create a natural flow of conversation and frankly the ex-pat here never use the word So as the introduction to a conversation. They would use it as the first word of a sentence if it was to elaborate an explanation. For example 'We were confronted with two choices. So we decided to take the easiest.'
Do you have any ideas on when it would be used in everyday language, some rule of thumb for example, that I could use?
Thanks for your feedback.

I took a look at this online, and found improvised answers. According to them, the word so is sometimes used as discourse markers as a substitute for words such as well, oh, uh. I'm a person who stammers and talks nervously, and when I want to put down the same feelings, I often use it. For instance: "So, do you think I can come home today?"

Similarly, the word so is also used at the beginning of the sentence after a previous sentence. This is to convey that the idea behind the first sentence is related to the second. For example: "I like my English teacher a lot, so I pay a lot of attention during her class." This can also be written by emitting the comma and introducing a period instead. For example: "I like my English teacher a lot. So I pay a lot of attention during her class."

I'm not very good at explaining, so forgive me if it sounds vague or unintelligible. I used the following links as reference. You can take a look to understand better:
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/educ...
http://english.stackexchange.com/ques...

Dear Hallie, it is so kind of you to take the time to reply. Your example is how I would expect it to be used.
I have tried looking through the reference works but I think they are not up to current usage.

Yes, they are not. I was unsuccessful in finding more recent reference works. At school, I often hear people use the word the same way I explained. It is mostly the first instance they use to sound cool. I doubt there is a hard and fast rule for this, but I'm not any English wiz. I'll try and search more tomorrow, and let you know if I have any additional information.

Wow I'm going to sound like a huge idiot now but I had no idea the word "So" wasn't acceptable. I just sort of always used it :3

I was told in elementary school that using the words 'but, so, or because' wasn't acceptable but I never listened.

My problem is when you start a sentence with 'so' for no apparent reason. Why do it? What does it mean?

I personally use it only as a discourse marker. It just evolved the same way 'um', 'uh', and 'well' came.

*facedesk* Why?!.

But can it be used in the printed form in a novel or anywhere for that matter?

I think so. I've seen it somewhere.