Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Plan Your Work

I may have mentioned one of my husband's favorite sayings before. 'Plan your work and work your plan.' It's used a lot around here and all six of our children use now in their adult life. One of his other favorites that they quote a lot is 'this country is built on hard work.' Usually they use those quotes where they have so much work to do they can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I might have mumbled those quotes to myself over the last week though colored with a bit of desperation.

I put in some long hours and reached all my deadlines. I wrote a post for IWSG on high concept fiction and prepared a post for this blog. I finished the edits on my upcoming release of The Warrior and the Biologist. These were the most extensive edits I've done for one of my romances and thanks to my editor's suggestion, it is a much better book now. And I made the deadline by about 24 hours to write an article for the newsletter of my local writers' group. Long hours but then again, this country is built on hard work.

When I asked my daughter, a junior at Boston University, to read over the article I wrote, she went all elitist on me about my lack of an Oxford comma where I could have used one. What followed was a delightful and spirited debate about using the serial comma. If you don't have a side in the Oxford Comma debate, here's a link with some pros and cons. Incidentally, since my daughter attends Boston University, rivals of Harvard, she would never call it the Harvard Comma like some people do. But by attending a university in the northeast, our professors are very pro-Oxford Comma.

Do you like our family sayings? Did you meet your deadlines this week? Do you have a side on the Oxford Comma debate? Do you call it by that name or another? Don't forget to visit IWSG for a special guest today.

9 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I try not to debate commas as I'm sure I use them incorrectly sometimes.
Glad you made all of your deadlines!

Maria Zannini said...

I'm pro serial comma. It's enough I gave up the extra space after a sentence. I don't want to give up my commas too. :)

Unknown said...

My head is spinning just looking at your to-do list (or should I say have-done list). You are amazing.

Crystal Collier said...

I think commas are totally subjective. As long as they compliment your writing, whatever. =)

Family sayings... If all else fails, eat cheese and be happy.

Pat Hatt said...

lol me and commas just have an understanding, they go where I put them haha

Piss up a rope was one my father used haha

L. Diane Wolfe said...

You had a lot to get done in a week.

My husband's family has a saying for road trips - off like a herd of turtles!

Raquel Byrnes said...

LOL! 'All elitist' struck a nerve. As the mom of a new college student I totally sympathize. :)
Raquel Byrnes

Christine Rains said...

Great you met all your deadlines! I'm making progress this week to meet mine. My son's back in school and I have regular writing time again. :)

The Happy Whisk said...

I use the good old work the plan one, too. I do not have a dog in the comma fight. Story, voice and topic matter more.