Thursday, March 25, 2010

If You Must Run On, Do It Well.

“In addition to what has been already said of Catherine Morland’s personal and mental endowments, when about to be launched into all the difficulties and dangers of a six weeks’ residence in Bath, it may be stated, for the reader’s more certain information, lest the following pages should otherwise fail of giving any idea of what her character is meant to be, that her heart was affectionate, her disposition cheerful and open, without conceit or affectation of any kind; her manners just removed from the awkwardness and shyness of a girl; her person pleasing, and, when in good looks, pretty; and her mind about as ignorant and uniformed as the female mind of seventeen usually is.”~Opening paragraph, Chapter 2 of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Jane Austen is, by far, my favorite female author. Although she lived a relatively short life,(Dec. 16, 1775 – July 18, 1817) and certainly a sheltered one, she wrote six novels (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Persuasion) and many short stories, from the time she was a young girl. Her books have been serialized on the BBC and Masterpiece Classics and made into major motion pictures, bringing her humor and biting wit to new generations who may or may not have had the pleasure of reading her original works.

What absolutely delights me about Jane Austen, aside from the shining life she gives her characters, is her mastery of the language. The paragraph opening this blog is an example. It consists of one sentence! There are 116 words in that one sentence! But tell me, who would remove a single word without damaging the flow of her language? Very prettily said, Miss Austen.

Novelist Henry James ranked Austen’s work with that of the literary elites"the fine painters of life"Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Henry Fielding. Oddly, because Austen's novels failed to conform to Romantic and Victorian expectations that "powerful emotion [be] authenticated by an egregious display of sound and colour in the writing", (Duffy, "Criticism, 1814-1870", The Jane Austen Companion, 98-99; MacDonagh, 146; Watt, "Introduction", 3-4.) nineteenth-century critics and audiences generally preferred the works of Charles Dickens and George Eliot. Though Austen's novels were republished in Britain beginning in the 1830s and remained steady sellers, they were not bestsellers.

Every year I re-read all of Austen’s novels. Although I know exactly what is going to happen to each of the characters, I turn each page eagerly and am wistful when I come to the close of the novel. What a testament to excellent writing!

I will also admit that for a day or so after finishing an Austen book, I tend to be “exceedingly diverted” (entertained) by events or persons, and find my family members “having a pleasing countenance” (they’re a good looking group).

Austen gets in my head a bit. 

Thursday, March 18, 2010

How Do You Measure Success?

I’ve been spending a great deal of time learning to use Social Marketing tools—for my business and also for a PR project I’ve taken on of late. Therefore, I spend hours on Facebook and Twitter—and not playing Farmville (although I do play Mafia Wars) or notifying the ozone dwellers when I make a decision on what color socks to wear in the morning (white). I am learning how to use Facebook and Twitter’s networking and marketing potential in the fullest possible way.
Therefore I spend a lot of time, when I am not editing a book, reading other social marketing novices tweets and status updates as well as those of the gurus.
Here’s the thing—the word “success” and all its various configurations is bandied about like “change” was during Obama’s campaign.
After a full day of book editing and working on my Twitter skills, I am sitting here thinking, “I wonder what each one of these people who are touting the secret to success, think success is?” (My inner thoughts are not always grammatically correct.)
In my 51 years on this planet, I have met many successful people—or rather, what we normally would consider successful people—rich, attractive, big house, nice car, etc. I am single, so I can admit this without having to answer any questions from a spouse—I have dated a man or two or four who epitomized that definition of success. Notice the word “dated.” That’s all I’m going to say about that.
I just finished a book called “Into the Wild.” It’s the story of a young man, Christopher McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp, who left his privileged life after graduating college and embarked on a quest to live life—the “final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage.
McCandless said: "So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun" (emphasis mine).
Now, for those of you who know his story, let me say, I do not advocate all that he did. What I found thoughwhat touched my heart and spoke to who I consider myself to beis that this attractive, privileged young man who could have bought anything, gone anywhere, albeit through his family’s wealth and influence, did not have peace of mind, did not have happiness. He was not successful.
He went on a journey to be with God, to be with himself in his very truest statea man not influenced by the trappings of his surroundings. His “goods” were making the waters of his life murky, were blinding him to the true beauty he wanted to find in the world. His outwardly successful life was a terrible failure to himhis parents’ success was achieved through deceit, anger, and neglect.
McCandless makes a fatal error during his journey, but during the journey, he is able to find peace and to find joy.
I have for many years felt that success is not measured by a person’s bank account, outward appearance, or any other superficial quality or quantity.
Are you at peace with God? Are you loved? Do you have sufficient wherewithal to meet your needs and to share with others? Are you able to make a difference in someone else’s life, in any small way, every day? All these things define success to me.
The man or woman who gets up every day and works hard and provides gladly for those he or she loves, is successful.
I will consider myself a successful woman when I have helped all of those I love, and for whom I work, achieve their goals. That makes me happy. I am at peace with God, and I am loved by my family, and God has given me a talent that provides for me and mine.
Now, I just want to make a difference.

Friday, March 12, 2010

THE FUMBLERULES OF GRAMMAR stolen from William Safire


I just had to share this with my readers:

The Fumblerules of Grammar
by William Safire
(from The New York Times)
Not long ago, I advertised for perverse rules of grammar, along the lines of "Remember to never split an infinitive" and "The passive voice should never be used." The notion of making a mistake while laying down rules ("Thimk," "We Never Make Misteaks") is highly unoriginal, and it turns out that English teachers have been circulating lists of fumblerules for years.
As owner of the world's largest collection, and with thanks to scores of readers, let me pass along a bunch of these never-say-neverisms:
  • Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read.
  • Don't use no double negatives.
  • Use the semicolon properly, always use it where it is appropriate; and never where it isn't.
  • Reserve the apostrophe for it's proper use and omit it when its not needed.
  • Do not put statements in the negative form.
  • Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
  • No sentence fragments.
  • Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
  • Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
  • If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
  • A writer must not shift your point of view.
  • Eschew dialect, irregardless.
  • And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
  • Don't overuse exclamation marks!!!
  • Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents.
  • Writers should always hyphenate between syllables and avoid un-necessary hyph-
    ens.
  • Write all adverbial forms correct.
  • Don't use contractions in formal writing.
  • Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
  • It is incumbent on us to avoid archaisms.
  • If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
  • Steer clear of incorrect forms of verbs that have snuck in the language.
  • Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixed metaphors.
  • Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
  • Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
  • Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing.
  • If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, resist hyperbole.
  • Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.
  • Don't string too many prepositional phrases together unless you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
  • Always pick on the correct idiom.
  • "Avoid overuse of 'quotation "marks."'"
  • The adverb always follows the verb.
  • Last but not least, avoid cliches like the plague; seek viable alternatives.