Poetics Serendipity

8:12 a.m. — San Antonio

listening to Spirit in the Sky sung by Norman Greenbaum (one hit wonder)

Hail. I thought I’d try a different salutation. Fall continues to fall on most of the northern hemisphere. Some places are even rushing into winter. Me, here? Oh no. Let me dive into links before I become maudlin, again.

1] My grammar nerdly self was excited enough by the semi-colon, but this week I have the exclamation point. This punctuation mark I forbade use of, by my students, unless an actual exclamation was involved: Oh! Damn! Nuts! Look out! Aha! You get the point. If what you are writing is exclamatory, the words should tell the reader. If you have to use an exclamation point as emphasis, you haven’t chosen the right words, or the thing isn’t due a mark, at all. Check out How To Use An Exclamation Point Properly (& How Not To Use It) written by Julia McCoy, for Grammarly.

2] It’s time to check in with Poets & Writers with their Tools for Writers, where they occasionally update opportunities for submissions and jobs in the literary world. Scroll down and look to the right column when you get to the page.

3] Let’s round off with a cartoon from The Writer’s Circle’s Facebook page.

Nice and light, this week. I shall see you Tuesday for a prompt, possibly borrowed. We haven’t done one of those in a while. I’ll go  riffle through my books. And, I shall see you next Thursday for links and such.

Happy national poetry day and happy writing.