TheWritersBag.com

In today’s digital information age, writing (e-mails, business letters, etc.) has become something we all do in the course of working and living. It is precisely because writing has become a common daily task for most of us that we have to protect ourselves. We must not allow the writing we have to do to keep us from doing the writing we want to do.

I hadn’t seen Hermann for months. He’s a 63-year-old psychologist who could easily pass for 43. He seems 20 years younger than he is because he is one of those rare people who truly love life. At any given time, he is involved up to his eyeballs in something he is passionate about, and that something is usually creative.

So when I asked him what he had been doing for fun, I was not entirely surprised when a look of excitement overwhelmed his face and he told me he was writing a screenplay. We were walking with our wives at the time, heading for a symphony, and he spent the rest of the walk telling me about it.

I asked him what he planned to do with the script once it was complete and he told me he would ask family members to read it and see where it went from there. Then he said something that brought back personal memories from far too long ago: “I’ve had so much fun writing this,” he said, “it really doesn’t matter if it goes anywhere or not.”

That rocked me – not only because of the honesty with which he said it, but because it reminded me of me a long, long time ago before I started making a living as a writer.

For too long I have had to equate hours spent writing with dollars produced. It’s the only way I’ve been able to survive as a professional writer without having a “real” job. As lucky as I’ve been to be able to do that, it has come at a terrible price: it has dulled my once-intense passion for writing – writing just for joy of it.

After Hermann told me about his screenplay and seeing the look on his face and hearing the excitement in his voice, I knew I had to regain what I’ve lost. But that’s another story.

What’s your story? Chances are you’re not a full-time professional writer who has to produce X number of dollars a month at the keyboard to keep bills paid. So I have a suggestion for you: Write what you have to write in the course of your work or personal life, but also take the time to write what you love to write simply because you love to write it. Let your passion drive you. Don’t write for your boss or your clients. Don’t write for an agents or a publisher. Don’t write for the nebulous reading public that might read it if you get very, very lucky. When Stephenie Meyer wrote her first blockbuster, Twilight, she said she wrote it for herself just because she wanted to, never dreaming it would ever be published. She followed her bliss and her bliss gave her book life.

Follow your bliss and take the time to sit down ocassionally and write for the sheer joy of it. When you do that sort of writing, do it just for yourself. If you write for publication, the chances of success are statistically slight in the extreme. But if you write for the pure pleasure of it, your chances of success are 100 percent. In other words, you can’t lose. And if you’ve done your due diligence in learning the skills of writing, other people might feel that joy. If that happens, you’ll have a better chance of enjoying the additional rewards of publication.

Mothers are important, of course. And so are fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters and other family members. But you don’t always capitalize them. Which of the following sentences are correct?

1. Your mother is a wonderful woman.
2. Your Father is a funny guy.
3. Please call Mom to tell her we’re coming.
4. I think Uncle Harry forgot his pants again.
5. I’ve always been close to grandma Sally.
6. I’m pretty sure Dad won a medal during the war.

Envelope please. The correct sentences are … #1, #3, #4 and #6. Here’s why:

Rule: Capitalize family relationship names only when they stand alone as a substitute for an individual’s name (as in sentences #3 and #6), or when they immediately precede the person’s name (as in sentence #4). Otherwise, do not capitalize them … no matter how much you love them.

Sentence #2 is wrong because it’s not a literal substitute for someone’s name. You wouldn’t say “Your Frank is a funny guy,” would you?

Sentence #5 is incorrect because “grandma” precedes the person’s name, creating a sort of title-name, like “President Smith.”

If all this is too difficult for you, go tell your mother.

Which of the following four sentences are correct?

1. Every one on the team went to the finals.
2. Everyone on the team went to the finals.
3. Every one of the elephants decided to charge at the same moment.
4. Everyone of the elephants decided to charge at the same moment.

If you think sentences #2 and #3 are correct, you’re right. Sentences #1 and #4 are woefully incorrect.

Here’s the rule:

• Use “every one” to say “each individual item, person or entity.”
• Use “everyone” as a pronoun meaning “all persons.” Technically, this could also apply to monkeys, depending on your feelings about primates.