Taking Possession of Your Writing

There are readers who actually get offended when words and contractions are confused — at the very least many readers will get turned off by multiple and glaring errors and that disappointment will make them feel separate from your story. Before we get too critical of indie authors and/or small press publishers (some feel these are THE problem areas) outrageous mistakes get through even with the Big Six Publishers.

Possessive contractions, negatives, word combinations, and homonyms can be confusing. It wasn’t until a grade school teacher told her class that “something belongs to it, so does the S” that I had an easy way to know the difference between “its” (possessive) and “it’s” (it is) without a doubt. Here are some sets that often confuse writers:

your (belonging to you) ~ you’re (you are) ~ yore (time long ago)
there (location) ~ they’re (they are) ~ their (belonging to them)
his/hers (belonging to him/her) ~ he’s/she’s (he is/she is)
whose (belonging to who) ~ who’s (who is)
we’re (we are) ~ where (location) ~ were (past tense of was) ~ wear (clothes)
loose (non-binding) ~ lose (not found)
two (2) ~ too (also) ~ to (direction)
fourth (4^th) ~ forth (onward)
hear (sound) ~ here (location)
passed (past tense of pass) ~ past (before)
let’s (let us) ~ lets (allows)
peak (the top) ~ peek (look) ~ pique ([noun]irritation/[verb]stimulate)
overdo (do too much) ~ overdue (past due)
lead ([noun] as “led” metal/[verb]as “leed” to be in front) ~ led (past tense of [verb]lead)
lei (floral garland) ~ lay (put something down) ~ lie ([verb]recline/[noun]misrepresent)

another often confused use of the apostrophe is with proper family/surnames
Cordero (family name) ~ Cordero’s (belonging to Cordero) ~ Corderos (multiple people named Cordero) ~ Corderos’ (belonging to multiple people named Cordero)

Many words and contractions are spoken erroneously and people write what they are used to hearing; an example of this is could’ve (could have), it’s often misheard as “could OF”.

Writing Exercise:  Choose an occasion where you are the honoree – it doesn't have to be real and definitely not in the past. (ie; retirement part, award ceremony, book launch, etc.). Write a speech thanking all of the people who were instrumental in helping you attain your success; spoken, the speech should be no more than one minute.

Writing Prompt:  Make a list of your ten most valued possessions. Pretend that you must give each of these possessions away. Make a list (for your eyes only) of ten people you would want to give these possessions to (one per person).

Challenge Assignment:  Pick up a nearby book and open it to any random page. Copy the first line of that page and then count 20 pages; copy the last line of the 20^th page. Write a short story (1000 to 1500 words) starting with the first sentence and ending with the second sentence. Do NOT simply rewrite the story in the book.