The new book, Triple Charlie’s Shack Companion and Advice for New Hams is now available as a spiral-bound book. Check it out at http://www.vanportmedia.com/books/. The e-book is still available, too.

Just a quick note to let you know that Vanport Media has a new book coming out soon: “Triple Charlie’s Shack Companion and Advice for New Hams.” Lots of charts and maps, plus how-to for the beginner. We’re excited about it, and it should be available by the end of next week as an e-book, and bound copies will come in May.

Also in the works is a cookbook aimed at bachelors, and a book of poetry recounting a family’s struggle with poor choices. Publication dates are yet to be determined.

Writing and speaking “correctly” is much more than just being anal retentive.  Following the rules of grammar does not make you, as a writer, an obsessive, a language Nazi, or an insufferable dick.  What applying the rules of grammar and proper usage show is two-fold: you care about your craft and you desire to communicate.

Would you hire an electrician who said, “Yeah, well, wires are wires. Electricity goes through. It’ll do”?  Or a lawyer who said, “Settlement, schmettlement! I like to hear my own arguments, so let’s go to trial”?  Similarly, do you want to read a book by an author who proclaims, “I know what I meant when I wrote it, and people should just understand it the way it is”?

No.  No, you don’t.  Without following the rules, your readers can get lost.  Yeah, it seems tedious at times and can be a pain in the butt, and we even break the rules on purpose now and then for effect, pace, dialog, etc.  Still, following the rules the vast majority of the time serves your purpose, which (aside from the cathartic value you received from the writing process) should be to communicate your story as effectively as you can.

We all learned the rules of “proper English” in grade school and junior high, to varying degrees of competency.  We’ve agreed to the rules so that we can be intelligible to each other.  I think writers have a duty to be effective communicators, if for no other reason than that you don’t want to look like an idiot when someone tries to read your manuscript.  And it’s not about being a know-it-all fussbudget.  The top reason to be a stickler for grammar should be that you have a story to tell — fiction or non-fiction — and you want to bring the reader fully into the world you’ve created.

The holidays can be brutal on writing. Places to go, people to see, money to waste spend. I over-eat, watch too much football, etc., etc. It seems that from late November to New Year’s Day, I have less and less time for writing. And once I get out of my daily routine, my work output starts to drop.

To justify my sloth, I say that I’m engaged in “character study” during the holidays, checking out the interesting/odd/regular folks I come across at parties and events. Still, I know that unless I actually fire up the computer and actually put those characters into a story, I can’t say I’m a writer. But since that’s who I am, I have to put words on a hard drive to create and perpetuate my identity.

I create both fiction and my own reality. While rigid, to make sure I become who I am, I make a schedule, a date with myself to write. This last week, keeping that date has allowed me to finish up a manuscript that languished the last couple of weeks of the year.

What are some of the ways you combat sloth and keep yourself on track?

OK, let me expand upon that.  Typical, corporate-speak, vanilla mission statements are stupid.

“Working to provide world-class service to our clients with respect and efficiency.”  Yeah, that just drips with sincerity.  Not only that, it really doesn’t say anything. That company may as well have just gone all Simpsons: “To provide outstanding service in the field of excellence.”  It doesn’t mean anything.

Your clients/readers/customers are not stupid — they know a snow job when they see one.  Instead of using worn-out corporate-speak, I suggest crafting a simple statement or slogan.  This year, I overhauled my total thud of a “mission statement” and replaced it with something much better.  I went from “Assisting writers in realizing their visions” to “Thoughts into words into the world …”

When my clients come to my website, they already know they’re looking for assistance with their writing (I’m an editor, after all), and what a good editor is supposed to do.  I’d rather let my personality show through while giving assurance that I can guide a writer through the process of getting a book to market.