by Sue Horner | Dec 4, 2012 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
In absolutely shocking news, E.L. James and her Fifty Shades books did not even make the shortlist for the annual Bad Sex in Fiction award. Nor did J.K. Rowling for her adult novel, The Casual Vacancy. According to the Guardian’s Maev Kennedy, the Fifty Shades...
by Sue Horner | Sep 23, 2012 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Oh, if only those spammers would just apply their endless energy to good! But no, they are spending time posting spam. At least it is often flattering and cheery, if many times incoherent: This is definitely the thing I’ve been looking for! Wonderful and...
by Sue Horner | Sep 11, 2012 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
National Punctuation Day is fast approaching; do you have your assignment yet? What, you haven’t been eagerly awaiting Sept. 24? That is the day when Jeff Rubin reminds us that “a semicolon is not a surgical procedure,” and urges us to freely toss...
by Sue Horner | Aug 13, 2012 | Most popular posts, The Red Jacket Diaries blog
It was a dark and stormy night… So begins Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s novel Paul Clifford, the inspiration for the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. In tribute, the contest gives awards for the “opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels,” or...
by Sue Horner | Jun 15, 2012 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
For Father’s Day, a salute to Dads everywhere with some of the pearls of “dad-isms” that have come from the fathers I know: “Life is too short to drink cheap wine.” “She was in the family way…she was in everyone’s...
by Sue Horner | Dec 5, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
No doubt you breathlessly awaited the results of the contest that marked the 2011 National Punctuation Day (Sept. 24) — the day for drawing attention to America’s lapsed grammar skills. Well, wait no longer! NPD founder Jeff Rubin announced the select few...
by Sue Horner | Sep 30, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Thank goodness, Akismet keeps blog spam at bay. But every once in a while, I look through the spam holding pen to check out the most recent catches. I have to say, those spammers are getting quite creative, even if their grammar, excessive use of exclamation marks and...
by Sue Horner | Aug 27, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
I get such a kick out of the Bulwer-Lytton award, which challenges entrants to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels. The contest pays tribute to the famous “It was a dark and stormy night” opening of the 1830 novel Paul...
by Sue Horner | Aug 17, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
If you are a word nerd and grammar geek, you probably notice signs in grocery stores that say apple’s instead of apples and cringe at misspellings and improper punctuation. So you may already know about and celebrate National Punctuation Day, which this year is...
by Sue Horner | Mar 25, 2011 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
The wonderfully quirky Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year has a new winner: Managing a Dental Practice the Genghis Khan Way, by Michael R. Young. The prize is given by British trade magazine The Bookseller, a leading trade magazine for the book industry....
