Punctuation Matters

I learned a lot writing my book, A Life With Horses. I learned how to express myself on paper; I learned a few things about myself (another blog story by itself); I learned about formating; and I learned more about the English language.

Although I have a good grounding in grammar, I questioned many things. I checked my book of grammar usage many times and searched the internet for solutions. The book is written in an informal, conversational tone (like I am across the table from the reader telling the story) and I found myself using ellipses and dashes - a lot! (Just used a dash, didn't I?) I questioned the correctness of my usage of both forms of puncuation. I even asked a teacher what she thought.

"I don't think they ever should be used," she said. Well, that deflated me!

I went over my manuscript and tried to take them out. I did substitute other punctuation in several places before I decided it was impossible to say what I meant in the tone I wanted without using ellipses or dashes. Then I looked through my bookshelf. I would check out what other writers did . . . and found out James Michener uses both. If ellipses and dashes are good enough for James Michener, they would stay in my manuscipt.

Then there was the form of ellipses and dashes. There's an "en dash" and an "em dash". Ellipses - three dots, but how close together? And with what other punctuation? More decisions... In the end, I had to choose and use the same form throughout the manuscript. Is it correct? Not sure, but it is consistant . . . and just like the ellipses and dashes in the James Michener novel!

The Birth of My Baby

In April 2010, A Life with Horses was released. Although essentially happy to see it, at last, in print, I am also at loose ends. For the past few years, when I had a few minutes away from my real business, Wildwood Reining Horses, I was creating it.

I should have started this blog when I started writing A Life With Horses, but 1) I'm not sure blogs existed then, 2) I didn't know about them and 3) I didn't really have time to write a book, let alone keep up with a blog. So I'm starting now and starting at the beginning.

For several years, friends encouraged me to write a book, to put my horse stories in print. My answer was always the same: "I don't have time." Then circumstances motivated me to start. My husband moved out.

Alone, I certainly didn't have more time for writing, but I needed to believe in myself, to believe I could do something on my own, even if no one knew about it - maybe especially if no one knew! I sat down at the computer for at least an hour every day after morning feeding to write.

At first I didn't have a plan - I just wrote anything that came into my head - but soon it became obvious that all my stories had a horse in it somewhere. I had no desire to write about my failed relationship or the heartbreak of it (there are plenty of books on that subject) so naturally I wrote about what I knew best - horses. Ideas multiplied as I typed. One story led to another - horses I had almost forgotten, horses I would never forget. That's what my book would be about - my life with horses.

I agonized a little over the title. I should use something catchy? My mind went blank. Or simple - My Life With Horses. In the end, I replaced "MY" with "A". I thought it said it better and had all the elements of the book in a short, simple phrase - life and horses. For anyone who knows me it kind of said it all.

I did not want to categorize the book as a memoir (too many of those!), but I had no choice. It is indeed a memoir, but only a memoir of the "horsey" part of my life. Of course I would have to include pertinent facts as the story unfolded, but only as structure for what was most important - my horses!

So for more than four years, I have been writing and re-writing chapters for A Life With Horses. Many times, I wanted to write all day but could not. Several times, my hour turned into two until I reluctantly left the computer to ride my horses (my real job)but I persevered. After a year of this kind of sporadic writing, I had an outline and a few chapters roughed out.

The book was far from finished...