What punctuation always proves problematic for you? Have you ever taken a few moments to figure out what the right usage is? And once you discover that, how do you ensure you remember it?

That’s the topic for this short episode’s topic (which carries over from last week’s topic too).

“Are you a comma chameleon, adapting that otherwise innocent punctuation mark to do work it was never meant to do? Or does your manuscript need a ‘semicolonoscopy,’ a thorough checkup on proper semicolon and colon placement? If you know you have trouble with certain punctuation marks, conduct a search for that mark and learn if you’re using it correctly or not. If you’re still unsure, let your editor fix any misusages, but make a note to ask why they fixed the problematic punctuation. Take advantage of your investment in your editor and learn what you can while you can.”

— Blake Atwood, Don’t Fear the Reaper: Why Every Author Needs an Editor

Recommended Resources

• Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
• List of commonly misused English words (which should have been mentioned in the previous episode)
• “Learn How to Punctuate Dialogue in Fiction Writing“