Amy Mathers is a woman on a mission. She’s reading a book every day for a year to raise money for a Canadian teen book award—something sorely missing from the annual awards bestowed by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC). I heard Amy speak at this month’s EAC meeting. Her enthusiasm for Canada, Canadian books,… Continue Reading
GOOP and that guy who can’t sing (sorry, but I’ve never been a fan of Chris Martin), may have made conscious uncoupling all the rage, but I’ve been consciously copy editing for awhile now, and the blurb on the jacket of a recently published novel raised my consciousness to a new level. Here’s the blurb,… Continue Reading
My previous post, “It’s a Dash-up,” is a good example of how to treat hyphenated compounds in titles. (I know I’m the cool kid who never uses uppercase letters on this site, but let’s pretend.) First, here are some general rules for headline-style capitalization, according to Chicago: Capitalize the first and last words and all… Continue Reading
There are fourteen punctuation marks in the English language. (Actually, there are fifteen if you count the interrobang, heh.) My favourite punctuation mark is the dash. Not to be mistaken for a hyphen (which is used within a word: She hit the tennis ball cross-court), the dash allows you to add additional information at the… Continue Reading
Miriam Toews’s new book will be released on April 15. For those of you who can’t wait, here’s an excerpt from All My Puny Sorrows. (It’s actually two whole chapters.)
The question “What do women want?” was answered years ago by Faith Popcorn. (Is that a great name, or what? It’s as though she played one of those games where you’re bestowed with your special fairy name. Maybe she played the Zen master name game: What’s your personal axiom? “Keep the faith.” What’s your favourite… Continue Reading
A recurring theme around here is authenticity. According to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, something authentic is “genuine, reliable, trustworthy.” In a world where everyone seems to be selling something, and media presence is relentless, the lack of authenticity can be palpable. That’s why authors like Dr. Yoni Freedhoff stand out from the pack: he’s not… Continue Reading
This is my first post at copyeditcat.com. I guess you could say that I’ve graduated from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. As you can see, though, my site needs some design work. My theme is by Headway, but, unfortunately, I’m not making much headway with Headway. Not to worry: with the power of both time and YouTube,… Continue Reading
According to an article in Salon, the American Booksellers Association reported an increase in the number of independent bookstores in the U.S. in the last five years. This is certainly surprising news considering the seemingly increasing popularity of e-books and the convenience and low prices of Amazon. The article claims that two things are driving… Continue Reading
Yesterday was April Fool’s Day, and I felt like the biggest fool of them all. Well, I felt more unlucky than foolish: I lost Internet access, and then my laptop died. It was a cosmic April Fool’s Day prank. But yesterday reminded me of the variations (and ensuing debates!) I often see in the spelling… Continue Reading