Mine happens to be the misuse of the word everyday.  I see this word misspelled nearly every day on restaurant menus, billboards, advertising posters, and the like.  My child’s seventh grade teacher even misused the word in a handout during last year’s open house.  It was the English teacher.  Gasp!  It seems to be an everyday occurrence. 

I didn’t point out to the teacher her mistake.  I wasn’t going to put my child’s seventh grade career in jeopardy due to my grammar-nagging ways (I’m sure grammar-nagging isn’t really an adjective either).  And I’ve done some graphic design.  I wonder:  When the pizza shop advertises $5 pizza for sale everyday, did they just run out of room on the poster?  They couldn’t fit an extra space?  I would have flunked for that in school.  My spelling and grammar check on my word processor did not even pick up the preceding error.  That’s why writers have to be so careful.    

I’ve learned a lot, but still I’m not an expert.  Nevertheless, here is my rule for everyday faux pas: if one is to use “everyday” as one word then it has to have a direct object.  For example:  My daughter wants me to wash her everyday jeans every day.

I used that sentence as an example for my children, because even though I did not point out to the teacher the mistake, I made sure my kids knew the difference.  Plus, it offered a quick little jab about the wash.  (Again with the wash; it’s an everyday occurrence too.)

I know, I know (OK – should I have used a semicolon or a period there instead of a comma?  Technically there are two complete sentences).  One must not feel bogged down by the strictures of grammar during the creative process.  But eventually grammar does count if one’s writing is to be taken seriously.

I’d like to keep learning, so what’s your grammar pet peeve? 

Also, if I’ve committed any grammar crimes in my post, please forgive me and drop me a comment (not too mean please).  Thanks yous guys.    

Where do you like to write?  I like to write in bed with my jamies on and with my dog curled up at my feet warming them.  I could stay here all day even with the heaps of unfolded laundry looming like storm clouds at the edges of my bedroom.  By the end of the day, if I don’t move and keep writing except to get up to eat something salty then sweet, globs of laundry will have been turned over onto my bed, strewn about like unkempt children.  A frantic soccer player in search of a jersey or a ballerina leaping for a leotard will have thrown it there.  The dog will be happy when a fuzzy pink slipper sock lands on her nose, a prize waiting to be gnawed at.  I feel compelled to say that I am off carpool duty today; otherwise this blatant indulgence might be seen as abuse of my privileges as a stay-at-home mom who gets to write for fun all day.   Then again, someone else, maybe one of the other five people with whom I live and one whom I can be pretty sure loves me, could maybe fold the laundry.   (I’m wondering: is “whom” a dead word?)

I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself to all of you folks in this writing community. 

            My name is not really Hidly.  That’s the nickname my brother-in-law gave me about – oh gosh – more than twenty years ago when I was still in high school.  My real name is Heidi, but my kids call me Mom.  (I wanted to go incognito at first). 

            I began writing when I was in middle school, when I wrote a really terrible poem that my father still keeps a copy of in his desk.  Thankfully, my poetry has improved.  I might have to sneak into my father's office one day and burn the bad poem. (By the way, I know a lady who burns all of her good poems). After high school I got married and began my amazing family.  My four kids are now 22, 16, 14, and 11.  My only son is the youngest. And my husband still accepts my zany habits.

            I began attending college at our local community college when I was 30 and ended up graduating from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications with a 3.8 GPA a day before my 42^nd birthday.  I was very proud of myself and my family was too.  I feel lucky to live near and to have had the funds to attend such a prestigious school.  I minored in English there, too, and was able to study fiction writing with George Saunders and creative non-fiction with Joan Marcus.  I studied with a lot of great professors at both schools to whom I will always be grateful.

            As a journalism student I was able to write a few stories for campus publications, but most of my stories were published when I worked as an intern for Syracuse’s daily paper, The Post-Standard.  I was on the city desk’s government and politics team, which meant I covered anything from Christmas tree lighting ceremonies to crop walks to elections.  I had a great editor who gave me lots of stories.  Since graduating I have written a lot but sent out little.  I feel like it is time for me to change that, the sending out part, so that’s why I joined WritersMarket.

            This probably got boring awhile back.  I just wanted to say hi and introduce my writer-self to all of you wonderful writers here.