Captain’s Personal Log, Bookdate 091015.
Admiral Apostrophe is at it again. He’s pushing hard for all the stories in his sector to be scanned before the end of the year, so he can confirm there are no prohibited punctuation violations. Sometimes I wonder if he’s completely forgotten about our Prime Directive — to let language evolve according to the needs of the readers.
It’s going to be a tricky balancing act for our crew. We need to clear away grammatical errors while preserving the writer’s right to choose on matters of style. I suspect I’ll be dictating some creative reports over the next few weeks to satisfy all those prescriptive politicians back home.
At least I have a supportive crew behind me. They believe what I do — that our purpose is to help writers communicate their ideas. We’re not there to defend arbitrary rules in the face of common usage. (But try telling the Admiral that!)
Poor Spot. I think she’s picking up on my agitation as we prepare to head out. She’s been barking exclamation marks and now they’re scattered all over the corridors. It’s a good thing we got those upgraded maintenance bots, or it would be a real mess.
Sergeant Semi-Colon is winking at me and tilting his head to hurry me up, so I’d better close this now. I’ll write again when we get to our first story destination.
Comma out.
© Sue Archer and Doorway Between Worlds, 2015
Doorway Between Worlds 
Your own personal punctuation army. What more could a writer want? 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep, I’d love to have this group backing me up as I blog. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Woohoo! This should be fun. And that Sergeant Semi-Colon… a bit of a creepster, that one. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha! Indeed. 😉 Yes, I’m looking forward to seeing what this crew gets up to!
LikeLike
So many possibilities with this crew! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, I’m looking forward to tagging along on their exploration of different story worlds. 🙂
LikeLike
I love your crew! Oops…another exclamation mark. I may need to borrow one of those bots you have.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Kas! (I think I need one of those bots, too!)
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a collection of characters aboard this craft, Sue. They seem ripe for the unfolding adventure–as am I!
I’m looking forward to getting to know them all and hearing the stories as only you can tell them. And I’m sure they’ll all rub off on my writing–Spots, bots and all!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Shelley! 🙂
LikeLike
Love this subtle reminder that I need a good grammar editor 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Don’t we all? If only all editors came in the form of friendly dogs…I’m sure it would make the process much easier for writers! 🙂
LikeLike
I always vote against those prescriptivist politicians. The descriptivist party needs our support!
LikeLiked by 1 person
They definitely do!
LikeLiked by 1 person
OMG. This is going to be epic!!! I can’t wait for it to start! 😀 *literal squee*
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL! Thanks so much, Alex — that enthusiasm is going to carry me far. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha, ha, love it! Looking forward to the Comma Chronicles!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Lori! I think I’m going to have a lot of fun writing these.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL! Can’t wait to read the rest of the … story 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! I can’t wait to write it all. 🙂
LikeLike